


They Never Said Growing Up Was Easy

by 1529Jake



Category: Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, Panic! at the Disco, Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Adventure, College visits, Cousins, Cute, Falling In Love, Family, First Kiss, Frerard, Halloween, High School AU, Hospital, Intense, Love, M/M, Pizza, Questioning, Rooftops, Senior year, Sneaking into windows, Teenagers, doing crazy things, drunk, friendships, homophobic parent, petekey, puppy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-25
Updated: 2018-03-04
Packaged: 2019-01-23 04:15:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 33,632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12498548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/1529Jake/pseuds/1529Jake
Summary: So the attractive stranger shows up on your rooftop in the middle of the night, what do you do? Turn stranger to friend, friend to best friend... and best friend to lover.





	1. The Pete Wentz Dating History

The last day of Summer before senior year, Gerard Way did something he rarely ever did, and had friends over. It wasn’t as if they weren’t going to see each other every day for the next year, but the urgency to do things with each other was much more prominent than before now that high school was almost over.  
Ray Toro and Pete Wentz were seniors as well, and were the closest friends Gerard had somehow managed to make despite being a self proclaimed “awkward loner.” Surprisingly enough, it didn’t even just end at the two of them, because apparently being friends with Pete Wentz meant you were also friends with sophomore Brendon Urie. Generally Gerard wouldn’t hang out with sophomores, especially not the ones who were friends with his brother, but Brendon kind of just came as a packaged deal. Besides, he balanced out the fact that Gerard and Ray weren’t so talkative, so Pete wasn’t forced to be the only outgoing one in a group of introverts.  
The four of them were now piled up on the couches and chairs in Gerard’s living room, making ridiculous predictions about what would happen in the upcoming year.  
“Pete is for sure going to have like twelve girlfriends this year, and then miraculously break all of their hearts just in time to do it all again in college.” Brendon decided.  
“No, I won’t.” Pete rolled his eyes. “I’m not some serial dater.”  
“In all honesty, you kind of are.” Gerard mused.  
“Let’s go over the Pete Wentz Dating History.” Brendon piped up. “First it was Jeanae White for all of middle school,”  
“Then Michelle Trachtenberg for a few months freshman year.” Ray added.  
“Ashlee Simpson was freshman year too, right?” Brendon said.  
“Yeah, and the start of sophomore year.” Gerard confirmed.  
“Right, because Meagan Camper was the rest of sophomore year.” Ray remembered.  
“Come on, that’s not that bad.” Pete whined.  
“It’s a lot.” Ray said.  
“And those are just the ones he dated.” Brendon said. “Remember all the chicks he’s made out with at parties? Especially last year.”  
“Payton Sawyer, Sara Cicilian, Rosa Gilmore, Louisa Allen...” Ray listed off, counting on his fingers.  
“I was drunk all of those times.” Pete defended.  
“Also Jessica Chobot, who was convinced his name was Jason, in Bob Bryar’s parents’ RV.” Brendon added.  
“I kind of just liked messing with her.” Pete admitted, remembering the strange experience. “It wasn’t as if I was going to let it go far, though she sure as hell wanted it to.”  
“Not that I ever go to parties, but I specifically remember you making out with Alicia Simmons in a bathroom during the time my brother was dating her.” Gerard recalled.  
“That one was not my fault, I pushed her off immediately.” Pete said in his own defense. “Plus, that girl was thirsty as hell and not getting anything from him. I guess he wouldn’t kiss her so she took matters into her own idiotic hands.”  
“Mikey was pissed.” Gerard said. “He locked himself in his room for all of February break, and I kept having to leave coffee outside his door.”  
“What about food?” Ray asked.  
“Sometimes he ate food, most of the time he just lived on coffee.” Gerard said gravely.  
Pete burst out laughing.  
“Why did he date her in the first place?” Brendon asked, crinkling his nose. “She’s really clingy and backstabby.”  
“I dunno. Let’s find out.” Gerard said. “MIKEY GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE!”  
A moment later, Mikey appeared in the doorway, looking annoyed at being bothered.  
“What?” He asked, throwing a bouncy ball in Gerard’s general direction.  
He missed, and ended up nailing Pete in the side of the head. His irritated expression changed to one of embarrassed horror.  
“Sorry!” He blurted, eyes wide.  
Pete laughed it off, and Mikey blushed. Gerard rolled his eyes.  
“Why did you date Alicia Simmons last year?” He asked, pulling Mikey’s attention off of Pete.  
“I dunno, Ryan told me to.” Mikey shrugged.  
“Do you take orders from your friends often?” Gerard asked.  
“No.”  
“So did you actually like her or–”  
“God, why are you asking me this? Leave me alone.” Mikey grumbled, leaving before he could be interrogated more.  
“Cute motherfucker.” Pete murmured, tossing the bouncy ball, watching it go up and down with a small smile on his face.  
“Gay for Way, Pete?” Brendon teased.  
“Obviously not.” Gerard said, looking to Pete for confirmation.  
Pete just shrugged, and pocketed the bouncy ball.  
“We just got done talking about all of your ex-girlfriends.” Gerard said, beginning to panic, because he didn’t like the thought of his friend liking his little brother. “Aren’t you straight?”  
“I mean, yeah, but it’s Mikey.” Pete said, as if that explained everything.  
“What’s so special about Mikey?” Gerard asked, looking genuinely confused.  
“He’s a sweet little dude. Fun to be around.” Pete said nonchalantly.  
“When have you ever spent time with my brother?” Gerard asked, confused.  
“Well you’ve been working all summer, so whenever I spontaneously showed up at your house for no reason, you were never home, so I just hung out with him, and it kind of became a thing.”  
Gerard stared for a long while. Ray and Brendon weren’t saying anything, both shifting uncomfortably.  
“What kind of thing?”  
“I dunno, I guess we’ll find out.”  
Gerard would have pushed the subject more, but Mikey returned with a box of cookies, and plopped down next to Pete. That hadn’t gone unnoticed by the others in the room, and they all just watched in disbelief.  
“What?” Mikey asked, not realizing what the previous topic of conversation had been.  
When nobody said anything, he held out the box of cookies as an offering. Brendon took one, but made no comment.  
“So... What are you guys talking about?” Mikey asked awkwardly.  
“That Pete’s gonna be a mega heartbreaker this year.” Brendon said through a mouthful of cookie.  
Mikey frowned slightly.  
“Oh, give me a break.” Gerard sighed.  
“Ready for sophomore year, Mikey?” Ray asked quickly, noting everyone’s current emotions, and trying to defuse whatever tension he could.  
Ray was good at that kind of thing, whereas Brendon was clearly not. Just from observing, he already knew exactly what everyone was thinking.  
Brendon, well, perhaps he wasn’t thinking at all. He was merely telling things as they were, which was great in theory, but terrible in practice. His thought was to bring some sort of conversation to the awkward silence that had preceded it, but his choice of topic wasn’t necessarily the greatest.  
Pete was thinking about strangling Brendon. Ray realized that Pete thought about strangling Brendon a lot. But now he was in a particularly strangling Brendon mood. He was probably trying to figure out a way to deny all claims that he was a heartbreaker, and try to prove himself in front of Mikey. Because yeah, Ray definitely noticed that, too. Pete was flirty, but never flustered, not like this.  
Mikey was disappointed. Pete was obvious enough, but Mikey was a little more conspicuous. The kid was good at hiding his emotions, but not that good. Not good enough to fool Ray. No, just that slight frown was the only thing Mikey showed, but if it hadn’t bothered him, then he wouldn’t have shown anything at all. He would have just kept his regular old stone cold straight face, and not have frowned that tiniest little bit.  
And Gerard. Gerard was debating if he needed to fight Pete or not. He honestly had no idea, but he knew something was going on, and he wasn’t sure that he liked it. Ray could tell that he was very conflicted, and it had to be confusing, because this was one of his best friends and his brother, and they were blatantly crushing and oblivious.  
So yes, Ray asked the simplest question, one that had no possible way of turning out awkward or bad. Or so he hoped.  
“Um, I guess.” Mikey said, shrugging. “It’ll be better than next year, ‘cause all you guys’ll be gone off to college then. At least you’ll be around for one more year...”  
Okay, maybe it wasn’t the best question, considering Mikey had trailed off almost sadly at the last part, looking at Pete. How? How did he manage to turn that simple, innocent question into more awkwardness? Ray would never understand everyone else’s ability to turn everything into more drama.  
“I’ll still be around.” Brendon said joyously, grinning widely.  
Okay, Brendon was definitely not helping. Ray really wanted to tell him to calm his ass down. Couldn’t he see what was going on? Was Ray the only sensible one here?  
“Oh, come on.” Brendon said. “You know, I’m gonna make it my goal by the end of the year to make Mikey Way smile.”  
“I can’t smile.” Mikey said dully, particularly adding emphasis to his completely done facade.  
“Yes, you can, you just have to think of a joyful thought!” Brendon said.  
Mikey sat there with a stone cold stare for a moment, but then all of the sudden he seemed to think of something, and the corners of his mouth perked up in an almost-laugh.  
“Very, very good! What was your joyful thought?” Brendon asked.  
“You don't want to know.” Mikey said, reverting back to the blank face.  
“But I’ve got to know now. What did you imagine?” Brendon demanded.  
Ray looked nervous, and Gerard looked uneasy, both imagining what it could possibly be. Both looked between Mikey and Pete, afraid to hear the answer.  
“You not talking.” Mikey said.  
“Oh.” Brendon said. “Well, I am glad I was able to help.”  
Weirdly enough, Brendon actually did look like that had made him happy.  
“Are we having band practice tonight?” Mikey asked, apparently deciding he was done with being bothered for today.  
“Yeah, after Pete and Brendon go home.” Gerard answered.  
“Right, it’s getting pretty late anyway.” Pete said, unashamedly using Mikey’s shoulder to help himself stand up. “We’ve got to get up early for school tomorrow.”  
“Alright. See you tomorrow upstairs?” Gerard asked.  
“Of course. We’ve got to claim that hallway before any of the freshman try to take it over.” Pete smiled. “Bye, guys.”


	2. It's Always The Intriguing New Kid, Isn't It?

This year, Gerard had AP Chemistry first period, every day with an extended lab every other day. As if they weren’t exhausted enough at 8:00am, the majority of the class were seniors, and had even less of a desire to be there, especially so early.  
The teacher, luckily, was one of the best Gerard had ever had, and had made last year’s round of Chemistry less of a nightmare. Since it was assumed that Mr. Armstrong knew everyone from the previous year, the class didn’t think they were going to have to take attendance. But surprisingly, he did, for the sake of an unfamiliar face sitting on the opposite side of the room. An unfamiliar face that would soon be tagged with the name Mr. Armstrong read off the list, everyone’s heads turning to match the only unknown name to the only unknown face.  
“Frank Iero.”  
“New student, senior, came from a catholic school in Belleville.” Pete murmured, leaning over his desk to feed information to Gerard and Ray.  
“Where do you get all of this information from?” Ray asked in disbelief, but Gerard didn’t bother to listen to Pete’s reply. He was a bit too distracted by this new guy, strangely entranced in a way he was pretty sure he never had been before. He was completely out of it, staring at his mouth, and eyes, and hair, and now he was fighting the urge to go over there right now and roll up his sleeve to see if that really was a tattoo he saw poking out from under–  
“Dude, syllabus.” Ray said, snapping his fingers in front of Gerard’s face, and waking him from his trance.  
“Right.” Gerard said, taking the syllabus from Ray, and passing the stack to the girl on his right.  
What was he even doing? He wasn’t able to properly focus on what Mr. Armstrong was saying as he went over the syllabus as his thoughts wandered from confusion to mild panic. Some of the thoughts that had slipped into his mind were downright shameful, and he had no desire to let those thoughts slip back into his mind.  
Especially considering there was no way he could be thinking those thoughts anyway. It made absolutely no sense that he had been thinking about how pretty Frank’s lips were, or how he had strangely perfect eyebrows, or that gorgeous hair that swooped down into his eyes, and ended in the most amazing little curl. No, it made no sense. That wasn’t how Gerard thought of boys, not ever. That was Mikey’s thing, not that he had told anyone other than Gerard. Though, Gerard had his suspicions about how much Pete knew, and he was pretty sure Ray, Brendon and some of Mikey’s friends had made the connection.  
But that just proved that it wasn’t possible for him to be having those thoughts. Mikey was the gay brother, and Gerard was the... Well, Gerard wasn’t actually sure what exactly he was, but he did know that they couldn’t both be gay.  
That night, Gerard pulled out his laptop, and after staring at the screen for a good twenty minutes, he finally typed the question that was eating away at him.  
Can two brothers both be gay?  
What he learned was that scientifically, yes. Actually, it was more likely that two brothers would both be gay than two sisters or a brother and sister.   
Gerard cleared the history on his laptop, then shut it, stuffing it under his bed to stop himself from looking at it any more. Then, he pushed the thoughts he had been having out of his head. He had his answers, so now he could forget it. Just because the internet said it was possible didn’t mean anything was going to come of it. Everything was fine.  
So with that on his mind, Gerard went to sleep.


	3. Rooftop

Gerard woke to the faint sound of knocking on his window. He would have passed it off as a storm or a tree branch, if it weren’t for the fact that in seventeen years of living in this house he had never heard such a noise come from that window.  
Sighing in annoyance and exhaustion, he crossed the room to the window. Half falling back to sleep, he lifted the blinds, coming face to face with hazel eyes paired with an overly enthusiastic smile.  
Now he was definitely awake, if only to check that he wasn’t imagining things. No, there was definitely a person on his roof, and he was waving now, before indicating for Gerard to open the window.  
Usually Gerard wouldn’t allow random people access to his home, especially in the middle of the night, and even more especially in such unconventional methods. But he was just so shocked by the fact that this was even happening that he didn’t really think about that until after he had unlocked and lifted the window.  
The guy was crouched on the roof so he was level with the window, and despite the window being open now, he made no move to enter the house. Gerard supposed that was polite. He honestly wasn’t sure at this point.  
“Hi, I’m Frank Iero.” He greeted, holding out his hand for Gerard to shake.  
Gerard was pretty sure his mouth had been agape the whole time, and he only closed it now to swallow and speak.  
“Yeah, um, I know. Chemistry. Why are you on my roof?”  
“Wait, hold on.” Frank said, holding up a finger to halt him. “The proper response is to say ‘Why hello, Frank, my name is Gerard Way. It is very nice to meet you.’ and then you politely shake my hand like so.”  
Frank reached through the window and took Gerard’s hand, shaking it despite Gerard’s insistence on keeping his arm limp.  
“How did you know my name?” He asked, dumbfounded.  
“I heard that guy with the fantastic hair call you Gerard, and your mailbox says ‘Way’. It wasn’t that hard to put the pieces together.”  
“Okay, um, why are you on my roof?”  
“Oh, right. I live over there,” He pointed to the house just through the trees next door. “And I had the window open last night, because we haven’t got air conditioning yet, and it’s still ridiculously hot despite it already being September. Well, I guess I picked the perfect time to open the window, because I hear this fuckin’ amazing music outside. Now here, I figure it’s just someone with really loud speakers, so I climb out onto the roof to see if I can get the attention of whoever’s playing it and ask them what band it is. Well, that’s when I realize that it’s not speakers at all, but there’s a legit band in a garage playing right outside my new house. Considering this is your band, I’m going to need you to tell me what it’s called.”  
“Do you hang out on roofs often?” Gerard asked, hardly processing the long story Frank had just told.  
“Is that the band name or are you ignoring me to ask another unrelated question?” Frank asked. “Gerard, focus. Tell me what your band is called.”  
“We haven’t come up with a name yet.” Gerard answered.  
“Hm.” Frank said, sounding a bit disappointed. “I used to be in a band in my old town, it was called Pencey Prep.”  
“Okay.” Was all Gerard could think to say.  
“Can I come in?”  
“Um, I guess?” Gerard said, immediately regretting that decision, because he didn’t even really know Frank.  
But it was too late to turn back now, since Frank was slipping into the room. He was still wearing part of his school uniform, but he’d ditched the jacket and tie, and now just wore a disheveled version of the button up and trousers.  
Apparently Frank had taken note of what Gerard was wearing as well, because his first comment was, “Nice pajamas. I took you as one of those people who sleeps naked.”  
Astounded, Gerard had no idea how to respond to that, so he just said, “No.”  
“Good thing, I suppose. That would’ve been awkward.” Frank mused.  
Gerard was glad that it was too dark in the room to see the embarrassed blush that rose to his cheeks.  
“So, um.” Gerard said, taking a look at the clock to see that it was 1:30 am. “Why did you move here?”  
“You know, the usual. Parents split, kid bounces around between the two before ultimately ending up far from home and everyone they knew.” Frank said, absentmindedly examining Gerard’s music.  
“I’m sorry.” Gerard said.  
“You’ve got great taste in music. I knew it.” Frank clearly wanted to change the subject, and Gerard wasn’t going to ask him any more if he didn’t want to talk about it. “My dad would actually skin me if he knew I listened to this kind of stuff, but I still do.” Frank looked Gerard up and down once. “You’re not a demon, are you?”  
“Ah, no?” Gerard said, wondering if he was being serious or not.  
Frank laughed, and it was a much higher pitch in comparison to his voice, contagious and just flat out cute.  
“I figured. Dad would say you’ve got the devil in you.” He lowered his voice demonically at the last part, rolling his eyes dramatically.  
“I’m sure my brother would agree with your dad.” Gerard joked, though he didn’t think it was that funny until Frank let out another one of those startling laughs.  
“Yeah? It must be fun having a brother. I’m an only child. Is he in the band with you?”  
“Yeah, Mikey plays the bass.” Gerard said, keeping his voice quiet to remind Frank that there were other people in the house.  
“Who else is in the band?” Frank asked, catching the hint and hushing his voice.  
“Um, my friend Ray–”  
“The one with the great hair.” Frank nodded.  
“Yeah, he’s a beast at guitar, and we don’t really have anyone for drums right now, but the frontman for my friend Pete’s band has been sitting in for us. So basically, Patrick plays for us when we have shows and sometimes practice, but usually he’s busy with Fall Out Boy.”  
“Huh. Wish I could help you there, but I can’t play drums worth shit. My dad wanted me to, but I said fuck that and learned guitar instead.” Frank said. “I’m a spiteful little shit.”  
This time Gerard laughed, a little too loudly, and clasped a hand over his mouth.  
“I don’t care how funny the damn cat videos are, shut the fuck up!” Mikey called through the wall, banging lightly on it three times before presumably going back to sleep.  
“Shit.” Gerard laughed through his fingers, while Frank bit his bottom lip to stop himself from making any noise.  
“Sorry.” Frank muttered, trying to force himself not to smile, but failing miserably. “I should go.”  
He said this, but made no attempts to do so, staying exactly where he was on the opposite side of the room from the window.  
“It’s okay. It was my fault anyway. He won’t think anything of it.” Gerard replied.  
Frank rocked back and forth on his feet for a moment, sighed, and then moved to the window. Gerard watched him as he slipped through the window and onto the roof. For a moment, all Gerard could see of him was his knees to his chest before he suddenly crouched down, sticking his head through the window with his arms resting casually on his knees.  
“Hey, quick question?”  
“What?” Gerard asked, cocking his head to the side ever so slightly.  
“Do you trust me?” Frank asked, raising an eyebrow.  
His eyes were wide and innocent, and Gerard wasn’t sure how to feel about that.  
“I don’t know.” He replied honestly.  
“Smart man, using caution.” Frank nodded. He held out his hand and said, “Come here.”  
Gerard did, not because he had lied about not knowing if he trusted him or not, he still wasn’t sure, but he was curious as to what Frank had planned. He hesitated only a moment before he took Frank’s hand and allowed Frank to pull him through the window.  
He felt a little weird, standing barefoot on his roof, feeling the graininess of the shingles in his toes. Frank wore a pair of converse, so the roofing didn’t seem to bother him, though he did slip a little down the slope because it was still slick with rainwater from the previous day.  
“See that?” Frank said, pointing to the full moon.  
“Yeah.” Gerard nodded.  
“That there is proof that you are not, in fact, a werewolf.” Frank beamed, winked, and then promptly jumped off the roof.  
“Jesus fucking–”  
Against his own judgement, Gerard moved to the edge of the roof so he could look down at Frank, and make sure he hadn’t hurt himself pulling that idiotic move.  
He was standing perfectly unscathed in the grass, and even went so far as to smile smugly and wave up at Gerard.  
“How did you...?”  
“Your porch has a railing.” Frank said, chuckling. “How do you think I climbed up there? I’m not exactly tall.”  
“I...” Gerard said, honestly unsure of what to say. “I dunno.”  
“You’re a good one, Gerard Way.” Frank called up, grinning. “I’m gonna try to see you again real soon.”  
And then he disappeared through the trees, leaving Gerard stunned and confused on the roof.


	4. If Your Birthday Is On Halloween, You're Automatically A Witch

For the past month and a half, Frank had been coming in through Gerard’s window, usually to talk about music or comics or school. Today, they were on the subject of how rad autumn was.  
“October is great, because it’s spooky month.” Gerard said. “And it’s finally cold enough for warm apple cider.”  
“Ohh, yeah. Lots of fake blood.” Frank grinned, rubbing his hands together. “I’ve got a lot of that stuff, if you ever need to borrow any.”  
“Duly noted.” Gerard laughed.  
“Damn, I can’t believe we’re already halfway through October. I’ll be seventeen at the end of this month.” Frank said.  
“Oh yeah, what day?” Gerard asked.  
“The thirty first.”  
“Your birthday is on Halloween?” Gerard asked, intrigued.  
“Yeah, it’s a little weird.” Frank said. “I’m not a witch, I promise.”  
“Should I check?” Gerard teased.  
“Hey, I’m just cautious. You very well could have been a vampire, demon or werewolf, and if I hadn’t checked, I would never have known.” Frank said defensively. “Besides, you’re more likely a siren.”  
“How so?” Gerard asked, laughing a bit.  
“Well, you lured me out of my house, onto my roof with your enchanting voice, and you’re clearly dangerously beautiful.” He said, without missing a beat, keeping his eyes trained on Gerard.  
“So we’re going to a Halloween party.” Gerard blurted, not even wanting to, but saying the first thing that came to his mind so he didn’t have to comment on whatever that just was.  
“Okay, we are?” Frank laughed, not seeming to be effected by what just happened.  
“Yeah. For your birthday. I don’t usually go to parties, but Pete was invited to one of Bob Bryar’s again, and he’s brining Mikey, so I have to go to make sure they don’t do something stupid, and it’s your birthday, so you’re coming with me so we can celebrate.” Gerard said, all in one breath, then added, “If you want.”  
“Okay, sure. Sounds fun, I guess.” Frank said. “We dressing up?”  
“Yeah, whatever you want.” Gerard said. “Why, do you have an idea?”  
“I might have something.” Frank replied.  
“Cool, what is it? I’m doing a comic book character. Party Poison from The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys.”  
“Oh, man that’s going to be really cool!” Frank grinned. “Mine’s a surprise.”   
“A surprise?” Gerard whined. “I just told you mine.”  
“You should have thought about that before you told me.” Frank said. “Now you’ll just have to wait.”  
“Hey wait, where are you going?” Gerard asked, when Frank stood up, and made for the window.  
“Well, I have a lot of costume planning to do now. I’ll drop by later.” Frank said.  
“Why do you always take the window?” Gerard asked.  
“Because it’s more fun.” Frank said. “Besides, nobody ever knows I’m here. I’m your little secret. See you later.”  
And then he jumped off the roof again.


	5. Happy Birthday, Frankie

Frank did come back, almost every day, to do the same thing. Just talk, enjoy some time together, and avoid all of Gerard’s questions and attempted guesses at his costume idea. When he came knocking on the window at seven o’clock on Halloween, he slipped in, and looked Gerard over with a devilish grin.  
“Wow, you look good with red hair. You should consider dying it sometime.”  
Gerard laughed a bit.  
“Maybe.” He said, smirking a tiny bit.  
Gerard could not for the life of him figure out what Frank was, but he knew he liked it. He was wearing a shirt and tie, but with a bulletproof vest over it. The front of his hair was flopping in his face, and the back he had spray-dyed blonde. His eyes were ringed with red shadow, and he’d put in a lip ring, nose ring and earrings, but Gerard couldn’t tell if they were real or not. He kind of hoped they were, and knowing their school dress code was highly against such things, he could see why Frank might not wear them all the time.  
“So what are you?” He asked.  
“A punk FBI agent.” Frank grinned. “I like fucking with stereotypes. You’d never see a real FBI like this. It’s great.”  
“You really are something, Frankie.” Gerard smiled, shaking his head slightly. “It’s amazing, I love it.”  
“Did you just call me Frankie?” Frank asked, cocking his head.  
“Sorry, I won’t do it again if you don’t like it.” Gerard said quickly. “I don’t know why–”  
“No, it’s chill, I like it. You should do it more often.” Frank said.  
“Okay.” Gerard said. “Happy birthday, Frankie.”  
“Thanks, Gee.” Frank said. “We gonna go?”  
“Yeah, through the roof?”  
“Do we have to wait for your brother and Pete?” Frank asked.  
“No, they left already.”  
“Oh, so they’re like going together.”  
“Um... I guess so.” Gerard said. “They’re doing this sort of matching costume thing. Mikey’s a dog and Pete’s a cat.”  
“Oh, geez, they really are together together, aren’t they?” Frank asked.  
“Not yet, but I think they want to be.” Gerard said, as they both climbed out the window, and he closed it.  
“Interesting.”


	6. We Should All Be Concerned That Mikey Way Is Winning

“This party is so drama filled, I think I’m going to be sick. I never needed to know so much about how one girl hates the other girl because she’s trying to steal her boyfriend who she broke up with three months ago but then was on and off with for the last week and so she spiked her drink so now she’s passed out in the bathtub in her own vomit...” Frank sighed over the loud poppy music. “And there’s no snacks, only shitty beer. I really just want some pizza right now.”  
“I couldn’t agree more.” Gerard said, checking his phone to find it was midnight. “Let me just go check on my brother. I don’t want him doing anything stupid, but if he’s being responsible, we’ll get out of here.”  
“Alright.”  
They made their way through the crowds of people, ending up in the basement. They had to walk through a ton of e-cig smoke before they could see what was going on. A few girls were trying to pole dance on the beams holding the house up, and a crowd of drunk kids were cheering them on while spilling their drinks all over themselves and each other. Unsurprisingly, Brendon decided to join the pole dancers, and did drastically better than the girls.  
In the corner of the basement, Gerard spotted the cat and dog ears sticking up off Pete and Mikey’s heads in a group of kids sitting in a circle. He pushed his way through a bunch of people, letting Frank pinch his jacket to not lose him in the crowd.  
“Mikey?” Gerard called over the blasting music.  
“Oh, hey Gee. Have you ever played this game? It’s insane! I’m winning.” Mikey turned around, waving a collection of black cards in Gerard’s face.  
“Cards Against Humanity? You’ve never played before?” Gerard asked, confused.  
“He’s really good at it.” Pete said, pursing his lips. “It’s kind of concerning, actually.”  
“Sounds like it.” Gerard said, scratching his ear. They seemed sober enough, he figured they would be fine on their own. “Okay, well, are you guys good here? Frank and I might leave.”  
“Go have fun.” Pete grinned, waving his hand. “We’re good. Mikey’s gonna keep dominating these bitches at this game.”  
“As part of his daily regimen, Anderson Cooper sets aside fifteen minutes for blank.” Said one of the girls, who was judging that round.  
Mikey smiled evilly, and threw a card in almost immediately.  
He then suddenly pulled Gerard down to his level and whispered, “I got cock, Gerard.”  
Gerard’s eyes widened, and he looked in horror at Pete, who just looked confused as he awkwardly selected a card.  
“The card, dumbass.” Mikey rolled his eyes. “Anderson Cooper sets aside fifteen minutes for cock. Jesus christ Gerard, who do you think I am?”  
“Mikey...” Gerard sighed, slightly relived, but also still a little disturbed.  
“I’m not ten, I can take care of myself.” Mikey reminded him.  
“Okay, just don’t do anything stupid.” Gerard said, straightening up and patting Mikey on the shoulder. “I’ll see you later.”  
“Alright, Gee.” Mikey said absentmindedly, as he took another winning card.


	7. Pizza and Puppies

“Okay...” Gerard took a bite of pizza, thinking of the next question he would ask. “Best Misfits album.”  
They were sitting in a booth at a mostly empty 24/7 pizza joint, asking rapid fire questions, and engorging in what felt like the best damn pizza they could ever have in that moment.  
“Walk Among Us.” Frank said immediately.  
“That was quick.” Gerard laughed.  
“It’s an amazing record!” Frank said, taking his feet off the table, something he probably shouldn’t have been doing in a restaurant in the first place. “Forget punk rock for a second, the album’s great for everyone. If you love rock n’ roll, this album will do it for you. Just imagine Elvis Presley being a fan of horror movies. That’s the spirit on every track here. It's impossible to listen to this record and not get caught up in the the whirlwind of the Misfits.”  
“Dude, I believe you, I own the album.” Gerard shook his head, grinning. “It’s freaking great.”  
“Of course it is.” Frank nodded in approval.  
“You are so defensive of your bands.”  
“Of course I am, they’re important.” Frank said, as if this were the most obvious thing in the world.  
“Alright, your turn.” Gerard said. “Ask away.”  
“Cats or dogs?” Frank asked, after a moment of thinking.  
“Dogs.” Gerard said, but then narrowed his eyes. “Cats or get the fuck out.”  
“Is that even an answer?” Frank asked.  
“Both.” Gerard said. “You can’t ask that question, it’s not fair. Cats and dogs are both amazing. But I can’t really answer properly because I’m allergic to cats, and I hate needles, so I’m not getting those shots.”  
“I’m going to answer for you then, the correct answer is dogs.” Frank said.  
“Oh, so there’s correct answers to my opinions now?” Gerard asked, smiling.  
“Dogs, Gerard. Dogs.” Frank said. “I wish I had a dog right now.”  
Gerard stood, and slipped out of the booth.  
“Where are you going?” Frank asked, looking confused. “We have a whole pizza here, we should either finish it or ask for like a box or something.”  
“I’ll be back, stay here.” Gerard said.  
Frank waited for what seemed like forever, and he wondered if Gerard had ditched him. Just as he was considering wether to call him or just leave, Gerard returned, cradling something zipped into his jacket.  
“What’s–?” Frank started, but Gerard shushed him, glancing quickly at the college aged waitress, who was falling asleep over a textbook of some sort.  
“Look.”  
He unzipped his jacket a bit, and a tiny, fluffy head poked out, blinking in confusion.  
“You did not just bring me a puppy.” Frank said, his eyes wide. “Where did you even get a puppy!?”  
“My cousins live through those woods.” Gerard said quietly, pointing through the window. “They’re coming over in a minute, I woke them up but they gave me their puppy.”  
“Oh my god.” Frank’s mouth was agape as Gerard pulled the dog out of his jacket and set her in Frank’s lap.  
“It was kind of hard sneaking her out of the house without their parents knowing, but I used your clever roof method to wake my cousins up.” Gerard said proudly, just as two slightly tired looking boys entered the pizzeria. “Hey. Guys, this is Frank, who has your puppy, Frank, this is Tyler and Josh.”  
“Hi, what’s your dog’s name?” Frank asked, ginning widely.  
“Bandit.” Tyler said, taking a seat next to Frank, while Josh slid in next to Gerard. “She’s a two month old doberman lab mix.”  
“She’s freaking adorable. I can’t believe you brought a puppy into a restaurant!” Frank said excitedly.  
“Yeah, maybe that was a bad idea.” Gerard said nervously, moving a slice of pizza away from where Bandit was sniffing at it curiously. “We might get in trouble.”  
“Who cares, this is the most fun we’ve had all week.” Tyler said. “Why are you guys here at one in the morning?”  
“We skipped out of Bob Bryar’s party.” Gerard explained.  
“He’s having a party on a Tuesday night?” Josh asked, raising an eyebrow.  
“It’s Halloween, and he does whatever he wants.” Gerard shrugged.  
“People are going to go to school tomorrow still half drunk.” Tyler laughed, shaking his head. “Enough people at our school know him that we’ll see some of the after effects too. That’ll be hilarious.”  
“Where do you guys go?” Frank asked.  
“New Albany.” Josh replied. “He’s a sophomore, I’m a junior.”  
“Aw, the rival school.” Frank laughed. “You guys play any sports?”  
“Definitely not.” Tyler said. “He’s a drummer, and I sing, though.”  
“He raps too.” Josh added.  
“It’s not rap, I just like to talk really fast.” Tyler pouted.  
“Is there anyone in your family that isn’t musically talented?” Frank asked in astonishment.  
“Our sisters are tone deaf.” Josh said, chuckling. “They don’t know that, I don’t think.”  
“Wow.” Frank said, scratching Bandit behind the ears. “Oh, shoot.”  
The waitress had apparently woken up, and noticed the two new customers, and was hurriedly coming to their table.  
“Hello, um, would you like something to drink?” She asked sleepily, while Frank hastily passed the puppy under the table for Gerard to hide in his jacket.  
“Nothing, thanks.” Josh said, smiling to distract her.  
“I’ll have a Dr. Pepper. And some of those mozzarella sticks.” Tyler decided.  
“Is that all?” The waitress asked.  
Tyler looked to the other three, who shook their heads nervously.  
“Nope, seems like that’s it.” Tyler said.  
“Alright, I’ll be back with that in a moment.” She said, disappearing.  
“Why did you order food? We have to get out of here.” Josh said, pointing to the squirming lump in Gerard’s jacket. “We’re going to get kicked out or something!”  
“I really wanted those cheese sticks.” Tyler sighed sadly, making this weird little choked up breath.  
“Dude, you okay?” Frank asked, looking worried.  
“Not really, let’s go.” Tyler said, grabbing as many pizza slices as he could, and bolting out the door.  
“Does he think we’re not paying!?” Josh exclaimed, throwing a wad of cash on the table and running after his brother.  
Frank gave Gerard a confused look, and he just shrugged, slipping out of the booth, and sneaking out with the puppy, Frank close behind.


	8. They Might Have Had A Bit Too Much

“That was seriously ridiculous.” Frank said, hands in his pockets as they walked back to their houses. “I can’t believe you woke your cousins up at one am on a school night and brought a puppy into a pizza joint. Dude, I am so glad we ditched that stupid ass party. That was the best birthday ever.”  
“I’m glad you enjoyed yourself.” Gerard smiled, scratching his nose.  
“I wonder how your cousins are going to explain where they got all that pizza from.” Frank said. “They’re crazy. I like them.”  
“They’re something, that’s for sure.” Gerard said. “I’m surprised Josh could keep up with Tyler. He shot through those trees like nobody’s business.”  
“Almost forgot the dog.” Frank laughed. “That’s okay, I would have taken care of her.”  
“I guess the pizza was the more important thing on their minds.”  
“I wonder how Mikey, Pete and Brendon are doing.” Frank thought.  
“Mikey and Pete are probably home by now, but I’ll bet Brendon is going to show up to school tomorrow acting completely normal despite being full on drunk. He might laugh a lot, but that’s usually the biggest difference with him.” Gerard said.  
“Do the administrators not notice?” Frank asked.  
“They did, but now they just assume it’s a false alarm. He got called to the office twenty three times freshman year on suspicion of being drunk, while he was completely sober.”  
“Wow.” Frank shook his head.  
“Brendon has a large personality.” Gerard nodded.  
“That’s for sure. Alright, well, have a good night.” Frank said, when they came upon their houses. “Or, morning, I guess.”  
“Yeah, good morning, seventeen year old.” Gerard grinned, nudging him.  
“That’s so weird to think about.” Frank said absentmindedly. “Okay, bye.”  
“Bye.” Gerard said, and they went their separate ways.  
Gerard quietly unlocked the door, and slipped inside the house. He was about to tiptoe upstairs when he nearly got plowed into by Pete, who slid into the wall.  
“Pete, why are you in my house?” Gerard whisper yelled, jumping in alarm.  
A second later, Mikey crashed into Pete, knocking them both into the banister.  
“He’s been doing that all night.” Pete giggled, actually giggled, and playfully shoved Mikey off of him.  
Mikey stumbled back, looking like Pete was the face of betrayal, and then went right back to him, clinging on like nothing else mattered.  
“Are you two drunk?” Gerard asked, cringing when Mikey started nipping at Pete’s earlobe.  
“Veeeeery.” Pete slurred, pointing finger guns at Gerard.  
“I just wanna touch you, I want all of you.” Mikey murmured, nuzzling against Pete’s neck.  
“Great, it just fucking figures that my little brother would be a sexual drunk.” Gerard muttered. “Okay, we’re going to be very careful to not let mom or dad find out about this, right? I’m going to bring you two upstairs and hide you in Mikey’s room, since I don’t like the idea of trying to take Pete home. And I’m not dropping you off at Patrick’s again, he’s been through enough of your shit.”  
“Oh, please.” Pete grinned, waving his hand as if Gerard were being ridiculous. “Patrick loves me. He’s my best friend.”  
“I love you.” Mikey said, practically purring despite being the one in the dog costume.  
“Mikey, enough.” Gerard said, as Mikey started trying to get at the buttons of Pete’s flannel.  
“Gerard says no, Mikeyway.” Pete said, booping Mikey on the nose.  
“But you’re just too attractive. It’s irresistible.” Mikey said through hooded eyelids.  
“Oh dear lord.” Gerard muttered.  
He could handle happy, giddy drunk Pete, he’d done it many times before. But added with Mikey’s flirting and sexual advances, it was much less manageable.  
Suddenly, Pete took off into the kitchen, forcing Mikey to let go of him. Gerard was about to run after him, and make sure he didn’t break anything, when he ran back, falling to his knees in front of Mikey with the toothiest grin on his face.  
“Mikey, will you marry me?” Pete asked, holding up a large object.  
“Pete, that’s a napkin ring.” Gerard informed him, taking the thing and tucking it into a drawer in the living room for now. “And you’re seventeen and fifteen, you’re not getting married.”  
Pete frowned, and ignored most of what Gerard had said, pulling his bartskull necklace off of his neck, and wrapping it clumsily around Mikey’s fingers.  
“Marry me, Mikeyway.”  
“Okay, yes. But you have to kiss me.” Mikey said. “You haven’t kissed me yet. Why haven’t you kissed me yet?”  
“Trust me, buddy, you don’t want to have your first kiss when you’re drunk.” Gerard said, yanking Mikey back by his collar. “You’ll thank me later.”  
“Gerard, are you ordinated?” Mikey asked, as Pete jumped happily to his feet.  
“It’s ordained, and no.” Gerard said, shaking his head.  
“Gee, he said yes!” Pete exclaimed giddily. “I’m gonna be married tomorrow!”  
“GEE, I’M GETTING MARRIED AND I’VE NEVER BEEN KISSED. I NEED THAT KISS.” Mikey screamed, and Gerard had to slap a hand over his mouth to shut him up, so he wouldn’t wake their parents up.  
“Are you done screaming?” Gerard asked Mikey, keeping a careful eye on Pete, who was bouncing around the room ecstatically.  
Mikey nodded, and Gerard let go of his mouth.  
“Peeeeeete.” Mikey called, reaching out, but he kept his words quiet now.  
“Yeah, sweetheart?” Pete asked, actually leaping over the couch to get to him.  
“We’re gonna have a really good wedding night, aren’t we?” He asked, smiling suggestively.  
“Okay, nope.” Gerard said, separating them again.  
“Mikey, we’re not supposed to see each other on the night before the wedding.” Pete worried. “We’re gonna have bad luck, and it’s all gonna be ruined.”  
He let out a couple little sobs, and then began full on crying, flopping down onto the couch and sobbing into his arms.  
Of course, Pete just had to stick to his typical pattern of suddenly transforming into a weepy drunk the moment something small and insignificant triggered him. That just made it even better.  
“Pete, come on.” Gerard said, shaking Pete until he got off the couch and began crying into Gerard’s shoulder.  
While Gerard was preoccupied by trying to calm Pete down, Mikey took the opportunity to climb up onto the table and start a legitimate strip tease.  
“Mikey! Stop biting your lip, get off the damn table!” Gerard scolded.  
“I can’t see!” Pete complained, whipping around to try to see what Mikey was doing. “There’s too many stupid tears blocking my vision!”  
“Pete, stop crying. Mikey, button your shirt back up. We’re going upstairs now.” Gerard said, grabbing them both by the wrists and half-dragging them up the stairs.  
“It’s really hot in this house.” Mikey said, shedding his shirt, and tossing it down the stairs. “Why is it so sweltering?”  
“Mikey, put your clothes back on.” Gerard tried to say over Pete’s sobbing, as Mikey’s belt joined his shirt at the bottom of the stairs.  
Gerard was suddenly very thankful for the fact that his brother wore jeans so tight they were impossible to remove.  
“Oh my god, Miiiiikeeeey. Why can’t you strip faster?” Pete whined, tears streaming down his face.  
“Do not listen to him.” Gerard said, shoving them both into Mikey’s room, and closing the door.  
“I’m so upset.” Pete announced, as if that weren’t painfully obvious at this current moment. “I’m gonna wait until you pass out, and then I’m gonna get a sharpie, and I’m gonna write exactly what I think. You wanna know what I think? I’m gonna write ‘goodbye forever, because I know you don’t like me anymore because I’m not as good as everyone else, like Patrick or Brendon. They’re so perfect, and you’re so perfect, and I’m just Pete which is stupid.’ I’m gonna write that on your arm so everyone knows I’m heartbroken.”  
“Shh.” Mikey said, putting a finger to Pete’s lips. “Come here.”  
“No, Mikey! Nobody ever cares about my feelings!”  
“I’m sure he cares very much, when he’s not drunk off his ass and trying to get in your pants, okay, now get some sleep.”  
“Gerard, I need to tell you something that makes me cry.” Pete said sounding like a little kid who was trying to be very honest.  
“What now?” Gerard asked, sighing.  
“Mikey’s eyes, everyone just thinks they’re brown, but they’re like this greenish yellow when you look at them real close, and they’re really pretty, and then you look even closer, and theres this little brown speck to them that’s only in some places, and it’s mostly on just the one eye like a little eye birthmark or something.” Pete explained. “I dunno, it’s really sad because pretty eyes like that shouldn’t have tears in them as much as those ones do.”  
“Oh.” Gerard said, kind of wondering if he wasn’t paying enough attention to his little brother’s feelings. But then he remembered that they were drunk, and he had to focus on that right now, and worry about what they may or may not be revealing later. “Mikey, bed. Pete, couch.”  
He dragged them each to the respective locations, not allowing them to be too close to each other. Pete crashed almost immediately, after crying himself to sleep for a minute. Mikey, however, wasn’t feeling so tired, and kept trying to get up.  
“I have to protect Pete.” Mikey said, bolting upright.  
“Go to bed. He’s fine.” Gerard said, pushing him back down.  
“But he’s not.” Mikey said, trying to get up again.  
“Mikey, look, he’s sleeping, and he’s not turned the wrong way over, so he’s safe. Okay? Please go to bed, because I really want sleep.”  
“You promise?”  
“I promise.”  
Mikey closed his eyes, and Gerard thought maybe he was finally falling asleep.  
“Gee?” Mikey murmured, sounding half-asleep. “Are you awake right now?”  
“Yeah, Mikes.” Gerard said, yawning.  
“I think I really do love him.” Mikey said.  
“I know. I could tell.” Gerard said. “That’s not a bad thing. He’s a good one, even if he doesn’t think he is.”  
“He doesn’t think he is.” Gerard wasn’t sure if Mikey was merely repeating what he said, or confirming Gerard’s thoughts on the matter.  
“Yeah...” Gerard said gently. “It’s okay. You’ll take care of each other. Now go to sleep, Mikey.”  
Mikey’s only reply was soft snores, and once he was sure the two would be okay on their own, Gerard finally went to his own room.


	9. Definitely Too Much

“I don’t want him to grow up!”  
“Jesus fucking christ, they’re going to wake mom up.” Gerard cursed, rolling out of bed, the clock saying it was about 4am.  
“I’m grown up enough.”  
“What the hell is going on?” Gerard hissed, entering the room to find Mikey all over Pete again, and Pete sobbing uncontrollably.  
“He’s gotta be a baby forever.” Pete said, his lip trembling. “I don’t want him to die.”  
“He’s not going to die, holy fuck.” Gerard said, tearing Mikey off of Pete.  
“He’s gonna someday.” Pete cried. “He’s a Virgo, Gee! A Virgo! He just had to wait thirteen days and he would have been a Libra. Gerard, Libra’s are immortal! He was so close to immortality. So close.”  
“How did you even formulate a train of thought in this state?” Gerard questioned, smacking Mikey’s hand, which had found itself trailing up Pete’s inner thigh. “Mikey, get your hand off Pete’s leg.”  
“Nooooo.” Pete wailed. “You’ve taken the only thing I’ve ever loved. Gerard, why?”  
“I’m not sure if you’re talking about the hand, or Mikey in general, or if you’re just making shit up at this point.” Gerard said.  
“How could you?” Pete snapped.  
“Hey, it’s okay.” Mikey cooed. “Wanna go back to my place?”  
“Mikey, you’re literally in your room right now.” Gerard said. “So please, go to sleep.”  
Mikey did not do that. Instead, he decided that it was an appropriate time to grab a fistful of Pete’s hair and tug.  
“OW!” Pete screamed, crying more. “That hurt, Mikeeeey!”  
“Mikey, what the fuck?” Gerard hissed. “Why the hell would you do that? You’re not two!”  
“The internet said it was sexy.” Mikey looked puzzled, as if he had no idea why that didn’t accomplish whatever he wanted it to.  
Suddenly, the door opened, and a confused looking Donna Way stood, tiredly looking at them.  
“Mom!” Mikey exclaimed, running over, and hugging her tightly. “I thought you were gone forever!”  
“Shit.” Gerard muttered.  
He had tried so hard to not wake his mother up. So damn hard.  
“Mikey, what? What is going on?” Donna was confused, but she hugged her son back.  
“He likes her more than he likes me!” Pete cried, collapsing onto his back and sobbing more.  
“Why is Pete here? Is he okay?”  
“Um, well...” Gerard rubbed the back of his neck nervously. “They had a bit to drink at Bob Bryar’s Halloween party and...”  
“Why was Mikey at that awful boy’s party?” Donna asked, alarmed.  
“I was too.” Gerard said, trying to take a bit of the fault off of his brother.  
“Did you drink?”  
“No.” Gerard shook his head. “I didn’t have any. I tried to take care of them on my own, but they’re too loud.”  
“Listen, I’m not going to pretend your father and I didn’t get drunk at your age, but that doesn’t mean I’m not upset. Mikey and Pete could have gotten hurt.” Donna said. “If this ever happens again, you have to tell me. You promise?”  
“I’ll tell you.” Gerard said apologetically. “I’m sorry, I didn’t want to get them in trouble.”  
“Okay, honey. But I have to call Pete’s parents.”  
“No, don’t call them, it’ll only make things worse.” Gerard fretted.  
“I’m sure they’ll be mad for a while, but they’re reasonable people, they’ll just be glad he’s not hurt.” Donna said. “I know you’re worried about your friend getting in trouble, but if it were the other way around, I would want Dale to call me, so I’m going to do my job as a mother and call his parents.”  
“No, mom, they’re in DC. They’re out of town for work this week. Don’t call them, they’ll be worried and I don’t want them to come back unnecessarily.”  
Donna sighed.  
“Okay, is he staying with someone?” Donna asked.  
“No, he’s home alone.”  
“I wanna go home, Mama Way.” Pete sniffed, hugging his knees. “Don’t feel too good.”  
Mikey peeled away from his mother, and sat down next to Pete, wrapping him into a comforting cocoon that just made Pete cry more.  
“Okay, sweetheart. Mikey, come here.” Mikey reluctantly let go of Pete, and Donna helped the crying boy to his feet. “Pete, is your Uncle Joe still in town?”  
“Yeah.” He said as he rubbed at his eyes.  
“Okay. I’m going to call him and see if he can pick you up.” Donna said.  
“He’s gonna be really mad.” Pete said, looking down sadly. “Uncle Joe hates elephants. I didn’t even find him a donkey this time.”  
“Right.” Donna nodded, tapping some numbers on her phone. “Okay, honey, let’s get you home.”


	10. That's One Way To Make Use Of Fake Blood

Mikey and Pete did not go to school on November 1st. Despite the fact that the reason they weren’t there was so stupid on their part, Gerard was actually kind of relieved. It meant that they wouldn’t get themselves in more trouble, because that day was certain to bring trouble. Gerard knew this the second he stepped foot outside that day to go to school, and found a note stuck in the windshield of his car. He refused to be be threatened by it, though he did get into his car and lock it fairly quickly. Once safely behind those doors, he shot Frank a quick text,  
Might need to take you up on that offer to borrow some of that fake blood. Meet me at the usual spot upstairs?  
He then sent one to Mikey,  
Stay inside today. UKMG.  
And finally, one to Pete,  
Lay low. Got a note from UKMG. They’re looking for you.  
Keeping calm and not letting himself look the slightest bit worried, he plugged his phone into the aux, hit shuffle on his music, and pulled out of the driveway.  
~  
“I got your text, what do you need the blood for?” Frank asked as he came through the doors leading to their group’s “spot.” Gerard and Ray were already there, as they were usually the earliest. Since Brendon was always late to school, and Pete and Mikey wouldn’t be showing up, it was just the three of them.  
“Blood?” Ray asked, staring at Gerard and Frank with wide eyes.  
“Fake blood.” Gerard corrected. “I’ve got a bit of a plan to try to get UKMG off of our asses.”  
“Good luck with that.” Ray said, slipping off the windowsill and grabbing his backpack. “No offense, but I’d rather stay out of that. See you guys later.”  
“Why doesn’t he want to be involved?” Frank asked nervously, watching Ray leave.  
“Because he’s Ray and he likes to stay out of trouble.” Gerard said. “You got the blood?”  
“This is what I was able to fit into my backpack. I didn’t want any administrators seeing it and freaking out.” Frank said, dumping the contents of his backpack on the windowsill.  
“Aw, yes, these things are perfect.” Gerard said, examining a few pill-like blood capsules.  
“Seriously, though, why do you need the blood?” Frank asked.  
He wasn’t complaining, he had offered to let Gerard borrow them, and he definitely had more than he needed, he just didn’t understand what in the world he would need them for.  
“You know Jon Jumper, Scarlet Skyie, Josh Perczuk and Kai Cyrus?” Gerard asked.  
“Those kids everyone says to stay away from that are always suspended from school?” Frank remembered seeing them around; he would have stayed away from them regardless of what people warned him. They didn’t seem like the type of people he would like to associate with. Or cross, for that matter.  
“Yeah, those are the ones.” Gerard nodded, sounding worn out.  
“What about them?” Frank asked.  
“They’ve been giving us trouble about some beef they have with Pete, and I got a threatening note today that’s got their gang’s signature–Unicorns Killed My Girlfriend–on it. I’m going to put a stop to this bullshit.” Gerard said. “You’ll see later, after school.”  
“Alright.”  
~  
“What did the note say?” Frank asked, not too long after their first conversation, when class had started and they were working on a chem lab together.  
“Stupid generic crap that they’re gonna fight me later or some shit.” Gerard said absentmindedly, squinting at the beaker he was holding. “They put down a location, and I’ve got to go or they say they’ll go after Mikey instead.”  
“Why would they want to fight you? Didn’t you say they were after Pete?” Frank asked, curious as to what was even going on.  
“Well, yeah, but they figure if they can’t get to him, they’ll go after his friends instead.” Gerard said.  
“That’s stupid.” Frank said, frowning.  
“They are too.” Gerard handed him a pipette, and held the beaker steady for Frank to count out the right amount of drops to add to the solution.  
“Well, what about Mikey?” Frank asked. “Are you worried about him? I wouldn’t put it past them to go after him anyway.”  
“He’s fine as long as he stays in the house, which won’t be a problem since he’s super hungover.”  
“And Ray’s fine because he’ll stay out of it.” Frank said. “What about Brendon?”  
“I think they’re a bit afraid of Brendon.” Gerard said.  
“Ah. Yeah, I could see that.” Frank nodded, turning on the gas and striking a match to light the bunsen burner.  
“Yeah, and Patrick, Joe, and Andy are good too, since they go to New Albany. The assholes won’t go after them, it’s not easy enough to go to another school and attack.”  
“And I’m new so they don’t know me.” Frank concluded. “So they’re after you.”  
“That’s about right.” Gerard sighed.  
“Well that sucks.” Frank said.  
“Yeah, but it’s fine, I think I’ll be able to take care of it.”  
“With the blood.” Frank nodded.  
“Yeah, with the blood.” Gerard agreed.  
“Are you going to fight them, then?” Frank asked, concerned.  
“Not if I can help it.” Gerard said. “I’d rather not fight anyone. I hate that kind of thing.”  
“Are you scared?”  
“A bit.”  
“I’ve got your back.” Frank said, and Gerard smiled.  
“Thanks Frankie.”   
~  
“This is the place?” Frank asked from the passenger seat, looking to Gerard’s pale, anxious place.  
“Yeah.” Gerard said. “We’ll have to walk a bit, but this is it.”  
“Well, let’s go then.” Frank said, popping open the door.  
Gerard grabbed his arm before he could jump out of the car.  
“You don’t have to come with me.” Gerard said. “This isn’t your fight, so if you don’t want to, you shouldn’t have to.”  
“Of course I’m going with you, are you crazy?” Frank asked, raising an eyebrow at him. “You are sure as hell not going alone against those four dweebs.”  
Gerard swallowed hard.  
“Alright, then. I guess we go.”  
Before leaving the car, Gerard took two of the blood capsules and stuck them into the space between his cheeks and his molars.  
“Do I sound normal with these things stuck in there?” Gerard asked, and Frank nodded, still not understanding what he was planning.  
They spotted the Unicorns Killed My Girlfriend gang when they rounded the corner. They looked intimidating in their powerful group, and the girl held a bat slung across her shoulders, which looked dangerous enough on its own if they hadn’t known each of them were probably keeping knives somewhere too.  
“Way, it’s good to see you decided to show up.” Said Jon, the one who seemed to be the ringleader, approaching Gerard and Frank. “If you thought bringing a friend would offer you protection, you should have picked a taller one.”  
Frank narrowed his eyes in annoyance, but said nothing as the rest of the gang circled up on them.  
“I told you once before, you and your goons don’t scare me, Jumper.” Gerard said cooly, but Frank could tell he was on edge. “You don’t have any reason to go after me.”  
“We have enough reason.” Jon said, stepping closer. “Did you relay our message to your idiot friend?”  
“If you mean did I tell him to stay the fuck away from you psychopaths, then yeah, I did.” Gerard said, raising an eyebrow. “We done here?”  
“No, bitch.” Jon said, shoving Gerard back when he tried to walk around him. “I told that fucker he needs to get me my money by Monday, and here we are on Wednesday, still no fucking money. He’s been evading us.”  
“Smart on his part.” Gerard said.  
“I am sick of your sass, Way.” Jon said, cracking his knuckles menacingly. “Do I need to teach you a lesson?”  
Frank’s hands curled into fists at this, but Gerard raised his arm, and gave him a gentle warning tap on the chest to stop him from doing anything else.  
“I wouldn’t recommend that.” Gerard said lowly. “You won’t like what happens if you try.”  
“Why, you think you and your little friend here can take us?” Jon scoffed, and his cronies laughed.  
Frank could, and would do just that if only to wipe those stupid smiles off of the assholes’ faces, but Gerard had made it clear that he didn’t want this to resort to violence. Frank would respect that as long as he could, but if they so much as made a threatening move at Gerard, Frank was taking them down.  
Gerard sighed, as if he were disappointed.  
“I told you that you wouldn’t like it.” Gerard said, shaking his head sadly.  
Then, all of the sudden, he flicked his eyes up at them, looking through his eyelashes and smirking just slightly. He did a strange twitching thing with his head that freaked Frank out enough to send him backing up into the girl with the bat. Gerard suddenly lifted his head, discreetly biting down on the blood capsules to allow a pool of fake blood to run out of his mouth as he smiled psychotically.  
“Holy fuck!” Jon exclaimed, stumbling backwards, as the blood just kept pooling out as if it wasn’t ever going to stop, and Gerard laughed terrifyingly. “He’s possessed, get out of here!”  
Jon and his friends began running away, the shortest one, Kai, getting pushed back by Jon as they scrambled away as fast as they could.  
Gerard and Frank were laughing by the time they disappeared around the corner, Gerard spitting what was left of the blood and the empty capsules into the grass.  
“What the fuck was that?” Frank asked, hardly able to contain himself, completely confused, but finding the way it scared the shit out of the gang hilarious.  
“Scarlet thinks she’s a psychic or something, and was playing with a ouija board back in freshman year. I guess she thought she saw something and ever since then they all think they’ve got a demon after them.” Gerard said. “I wasn’t really sure how else to get them to leave me alone without confrontation, so I decided to play with their fears a little bit.”  
“Genius.” Frank said.  
“Not really, but it was kind of funny anyway.” Gerard said. “We should go back, I don’t want anyone seeing me like this and calling an ambulance.”  
“That would be wise.” Frank said, laughing.


	11. There's Something Strange With Mikey

Gerard dropped Frank off at his dad’s before going straight for his own kitchen to find a rag to clean the blood off of his face. As he grabbed an old dish towel from the drawer, Mikey suddenly burst through the door, letting it slam behind him, and threw his shoes and coat carelessly in the doorway. His eyes were red and puffy as if he’d been crying.   
“Hey, I thought I told you to stay home, what happened?” Gerard said, but Mikey pushed past him, running upstairs.  
Gerard heard his bedroom door slam before there was a knock on the front door.  
“Can I come in?” Pete asked. He was standing there, looking tired, but then seemed to look surprised when he saw Gerard. “Holy shit, what happened to your mouth?”  
“Oh, nothing. It’s fake. Forget about it.” Gerard said, running the back of his hand along his chin to get rid of some of the blood. Pete probably would have questioned further if it weren’t for the urgency of his own situation. “What the fuck did you do?”  
“That wasn’t me, let me help him.” Pete said, begging him with his eyes.  
“He seems upset.” Gerard said skeptically. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”  
“Okay, yeah, he’s upset with me, but it’s not because I’m doing anything wrong...” Pete said. “I know that’s hard to believe, but I swear to you, I’m only making sure he doesn’t do anything that’s only going to hurt him.”  
“What happened then?” Gerard asked, looking over his shoulder to where Mikey had disappeared up the stairs. “I thought you would stay inside today, and stay away from UKMG.”  
“I would have, but Mikey’s more important than my safety.” Pete said quickly. “It’s a long story, but he’s having a rough time, got some friends that are being absolute shitheads. Gerard, let me through, please. I need to talk to him.”  
“Okay, fine.” Gerard said, stepping back and letting Pete quickly disappear up the stairs.  
Gerard went back to trying to clean off his face, and once he had gotten most of the stain off, he went upstairs to read some comics in his room.  
The walls in their house were pretty thin, and he unintentionally heard some of the conversation Mikey and Pete were having. It sounded like a bit of an argument, but he couldn’t tell what it was about.  
“You say you want this, but I know you don’t, not really.” He could hear Pete faintly say. “Tell me I’m wrong. Tell me it’s not because they’re pressuring you into it.”  
He didn’t want to intrude any more than that, knowing that if Mikey wanted to tell him about it, he eventually would, so he got his headphones out and listened to music to drown it out. He still kept the music fairly quiet, just in case he noticed a change in the way their voices sounded. If it got too angry, he might have to intervene.  
But that didn’t end up happening. Eventually it got quiet, and Gerard heard Pete leave around 9:00pm, by which point he was getting ready to go to sleep. He swapped his school clothes for a matching pair of pajamas, and plopped down on his bed when he heard knocking on his window.  
Frank never came this late on a school night, only on weekends did he come at night. Gerard furrowed his eyebrows and crossed the room, looking not at the excited hazel eyes he was used to, but red, tearstained ones with sadness embedded deep within them.  
He opened the window, unsure of what was going on or what to say, so he just comfortingly took Frank’s hand and helped him into the room.  
“What’s wrong?” Gerard asked, concerned.  
“Dad’s drunk, and we had a fight, and I left, but I’m not supposed to go to Mom’s because on Wednesdays I’m supposed to be at Dad’s and there’s the whole legal rights thing. I don’t know where else to go. Can I just... Can I stay here, just for the night? I promise I won’t stay long and I won’t cause any disturbances and–”  
“Yes, of course.” Gerard said, and without really thinking about it, pulled Frank into a hug.  
He wasn’t sure if that was what Frank needed, and felt a little bad for invading his personal space like that when he was so upset, but Frank hugged back.  
“Thank you.” He whispered into Gerard’s shoulder.  
“Of course, Frank. Anything.” Gerard said gently, letting Frank pull away when he was ready. “I’ll get you a pillow from the linen closet. Stay here.”  
Gerard left his room, and returned a while later with a pillow and some extra blankets.  
Frank gratefully took the items, and started arranging them on the floor, but Gerard shook his head, and picked them up, tossing them onto the bed.  
“Don’t sleep on the floor, that’s a horrible idea.” Gerard said. “Mikey does that sometimes, and I swear he’s gonna have major back issues. If it doesn’t bother you, I’d suggest we both just sleep up here. It’s big enough anyway.”  
Frank looked like that had caught him off guard but he said, “No, it doesn’t bother me.”  
“Good.” Gerard said, climbing under the sheets and holding them up to invite Frank to join him.  
After the smallest second of hesitation, Frank joined Gerard, and they tried to make themselves comfortable without bothering the other. With Gerard on his stomach, and Frank on his back, they managed to find a position that didn’t end in their limbs awkwardly brushing against each other, which did have to happen a few times before the finally got there.  
“You good?” Gerard whispered.  
“I’m good.” Frank said, sniffing a tiny bit as an aftermath to the crying he’d been doing previously.  
“Okay.” Gerard said, watching Frank carefully. For a moment there he had the intrusive thought of kissing Frank pop up in his rebellious mind, but he pretended that urge had never been there. “Goodnight.”  
“Thank you, Gerard.” Frank said, already sounding like he was half asleep. “Goodnight.”  
~  
The next morning, Gerard rolled out of bed, but abruptly tripped over something on the floor. He cursed quietly and righted himself, ending up stumbling across the room.  
“Mikey, what the fuck?” Gerard asked, realizing what the thing was.  
“I had a nightmare again.”  
His brother had brought his entire comforter into the room, and was now wrapped up like a burrito on the floor.  
“Don’t you think you’re getting a little too old to be sleeping on my floor?”  
“No.” Mikey pulled the comforter he had brought in over his head. “It’s never been a problem before.”  
“Mikey’s on the floor?” Frank asked, popping his head over the side of the bed. “Mikey, that’ll cause back problems.”  
“What.” Mikey said this more as a statement than a question, pulling the comforter off of his face and staring blankly at Frank. “Wait hold on, why is Frank here?”  
Gerard’s facial expression at that moment could only be described as a mixture of freaked out, annoyed, and panicked.  
“Mikey, out.” Gerard said sternly, pointing at the door.  
“Oh my god.” Mikey said, his jaw dropping.  
“No, Mikey, stop.” Gerard said hurriedly, grabbing Mikey’s legs through the comforter and trying to drag him out of the room. “Don’t think any further, it’s literally nothing.”  
“Gerard, what the fuck?” Mikey said, and Gerard wasn’t quite sure if he was cursing him for Frank, or cursing him for dragging him out of the room.  
“I told you, nothing.” Gerard snapped.  
“Um, I’m gonna go to my mom’s and get some clothes for school. I’ll see you guys later.” Frank said, darting out the window, and evading any sort of confrontation that could occur from this.  
“Dude, I had no idea you and Frank–”  
“Me and Frank aren’t anything.” Gerard interrupted. “Just friends, geez. He just needed a place to stay because it was Wednesday and his dad kicked him out. It’s not that big of a deal.”  
“Alright, whatever.” Mikey said, yawning and flopping his arms over his eyes. “You gonna make coffee?”  
“Mikes, what’s that?” Gerard ignored his question, grabbing Mikey’s arm.  
He’d noticed something when Mikey’s sleeve rode up as he covered his eyes, and he wanted to know what it was.  
“Nothing.” Mikey muttered, clearly just wanting to sleep more.  
“Who the fuck wrote ‘Easy’ on your arm?” Gerard asked, looking concerned when the sleeve fell the rest of the way down from him holding Mikey’s arm up.  
“Pete.” Mikey answered, yanking his arm away in irritation.  
“Pete? Why the fuck would he do that? I’m going to have to have a talk with him, because that’s incredibly rude and I’m pretty sure that falls under the category of bullying, which I am shocked and upset to find out that Pete of all people–”  
“God, Gee, calm down. You’re taking it out of context, it’s actually really sweet.” Mikey said, pulling at his sleeves.  
“You’re going to have to elaborate, because I have no idea how that could possibly be considered sweet.” Gerard said. “Listen, I know you were mad at him yesterday, so if something is going on, you need to tell me about it.”  
“I don’t have to tell you anything about yesterday, leave me alone.”  
Mikey gathered his things, and stormed out of the room angrily. Gerard kind of regretted being so mean to him that morning, because maybe if he’d been more honest with Mikey, Mikey would have been honest with him. But he couldn’t do that, because that would have to involve him being honest with himself first.  
Of course, Mikey wouldn’t tell him what was going on, but Gerard knew Pete, and Pete was much more open. He would probably tell Gerard whatever he wanted to know, all he had to do was ask.  
“What do you mean by ‘Easy’?” He asked a few hours later at school, while they waited for their first class to start.  
“What?” Pete asked.  
There wasn’t any reason for Pete to act like he didn’t know, they were the only ones upstairs at that time. It was a completely confidential conversation, but Gerard decided he was going to have to elaborate.  
“Easy. In Sharpie. On Mikey’s arm. He said it was sweet for some reason, but I really don’t get it.”  
“Oh. Right.” Pete said, laughing nervously.  
“So?”  
“It’s a reminder.” Pete shifted uncomfortably.  
“A... Reminder?” Gerard asked, not getting it at all.  
“Yeah, it’s a reminder. So he remembers not to let people take advantage of him, and to not let people or society pressure him into thinking he has to do anything he doesn’t want to. Don’t let it be easy for them.” Pete sighed. “Look, the kid thinks he needs to do things he’s clearly not ready for, and I just don’t want him to do anything he’ll regret.”  
“Wait, so you...” Gerard blanched.  
“I told you, I didn’t let him do anything he’d regret.” Pete said. “What do you take me as?”  
“I’m not gonna lie, I don’t trust you alone with him.” Gerard said, biting the inside of his lip awkwardly.  
“Okay, well, it’s not what you’re thinking.” Pete said, now tapping his fingers anxiously on his leg.  
Gerard didn’t say anything. He wasn’t sure if he should ask more, though he still wanted answers.  
“Watch out for him.” Pete said, and Gerard thought he almost looked like he wanted to cry. “He’s at that age where all his friends are losing their virginities, and he’s at that age where they all pressure each other into things they’re too young to understand. Hell, even we’re too young to understand, Gee.” He sighed, running a hand over his face. “I don’t think my word is enough to get over the pressures of society. He’s probably going to move on to trying to get it over with someone else, so just try to make sure he doesn’t get hurt. I’m not important enough, and the next person might not care like I do.”  
“I don’t think so.” Gerard said gently. “He won’t go to someone else. Not that I like to admit it, but he’s way too into you. He’s not going anywhere unless you let him go. So don’t let him go.”  
“Really?” Pete asked, looking skeptical.  
“He told you he loves you, do you remember? On Halloween?”  
“Oh... I remember.” Pete said slowly. “Drunk ‘I love you’s don’t count. It doesn’t mean anything.”  
“It does to him.” Gerard said. “Alcohol doesn’t make you say things you don’t want to say. It doesn’t magically transform you into someone you’re not. It just lowers your inhibitions. He meant everything he said that day, as weird as it was. He just wouldn’t ever say any of it sober.”  
“I doubt it. Nobody’s ever cared before.”  
“Not everyone is after you just to date and drop, Pete. You should take some of your own advice, and stop letting people take advantage of you. No offense, you’re a bit of a man whore, but I think it’s just an act. I don’t think that’s really who you are. I just think you’re too afraid to give up your heart, so you give up the rest of you instead.”  
Pete looked a little surprised, and for a moment, Gerard thought he was going to be mad at him.  
“You’re...” He sighed. “You’re right.”  
They sat in silence for a very long time, and Gerard thought that was the end of the conversation.  
“I’m going to ask Mikey to be my boyfriend.” Pete decided, looking to Gerard. “Can I?”  
“You can do whatever you want.” Gerard shrugged.  
“No, I mean, do I have your permission? Would you approve?”  
“Yes. I think you make each other happy, and I think it’s something both of you need. You’re good for each other, at least as far as I can tell.” Gerard said, choosing his words carefully.  
“Thanks, Gee.” Pete said lightly, and that was probably the quietest and calmest Gerard had ever heard him speak.


	12. For Adventure, For Love, For Pie

“I have to leave to go to my uncle’s in an hour, so I can’t stay long.” Frank said, slipping into one of the kitchen chairs.  
“Okay.” Gerard said. “What are you going to do there?”  
“Fall stuff or something. My little cousins were asking if I could visit since I got my license and can drive myself there, so their mom’s making pie and we’ll probably take the golf cart out into the woods. It’s really big and it’s always beautiful at this time of year.”  
“Sounds like fun.” Gerard said.  
“You should come with me.” Frank said.  
“Would your aunt and uncle be okay with that?” Gerard asked skeptically.  
“Yeah, they don’t care at all. They’re my godparents, but they’re more like my parents than my real parents sometimes.” Frank explained. “To tell you the truth, my aunt would probably be ecstatic if I brought an army of people to eat her pies. She tends to make way more than necessary because she loves baking so much, and loves it even more when people eat it.”  
“Alright, if you say so. I’ll come.” Gerard said, feeling pretty excited for this now.  
Frank had met some of his extended family, and now he was going to meet Frank’s. That would be pretty cool. Though, it sounded like Frank’s cousins were much younger than Tyler and Josh, it should still be interesting. Hopefully in a different way, though. He still wondered if Tyler ever found out that they’d paid for the pizza so he wasn’t on the run for stealing it.  
Mikey suddenly stormed into the kitchen, throwing his house keys onto the counter, and not saying a word to either of them.  
“He seems upset.” Frank said quietly, watching as Mikey disappeared into the living room.  
“He is.” Gerard said. “Stuff with Pete, but it’s going to get better... I hope.”  
“I hope so too. The world is an ugly place, Gee.” Frank sighed. “I’ve had my fair share of it’s prejudices.”  
“You’re like...” He almost said “me”, but he hadn’t even fully come to terms with that yet, so he just said, “You’re like Mikey?”  
Frank raised an eyebrow.  
“You didn’t notice?”  
“Well, I mean,” He had made the connection, but he wanted confirmation anyway. “I don’t like making assumptions.”  
“Good mentality.” Frank said, smiling in approval and tipping back slightly in his chair. “I am, in fact, a flaming homosexual, and it’s quite fun actually, once you get past all the homophobic bullshit. I mean, come on, we all know girls have cooties.”  
Gerard’s laugh was a little strange sounding, probably because he was still a little afraid that laughing at that joke would offend Frank, but he was still grinning, so apparently it was okay.  
Mikey stalked back into the kitchen, and Gerard and Frank just watched in anxious silence as he opened a few cupboards, not taking anything from them before slamming them closed. He did this a few times, even going so far as to take the coffee grounds out, then think better of it and shove the container roughly back into the cupboard.  
“He can come with us if you think it’ll make him forget whatever’s upsetting him.” Frank murmured, and Gerard nodded.  
“Hey Mikey, Frank and I are going on a little adventure, wanna come?”  
Mikey leaned against the counter, tapping at it rapidly, and not looking at them.  
“Don’t you want time alone or some shit?” Mikey asked dully, but when his eyes flicked to their confused faces, he rolled his eyes and said, “Never mind, why do you want me to come?”  
“To get your mind off of things.” Gerard said this gently. He knew what his brother’s moodiness was from, even if Mikey wasn’t aware that he knew. He also knew it was going to get better if he could just get him to wait a little longer, so he had to approach this carefully. “Frank’s uncle’s got all this land and apparently it looks really pretty in the fall. Come on, you can’t pass that up.”  
“Alright fine.” Mikey sighed. “When are we going?”  
“In like a half hour.” Frank answered, interjecting in the hopes that his contribution would convince Mikey that it was okay he came.  
“I’m gonna go get a beanie.” Mikey left again, and Gerard sighed.  
“It’s alright. It’s not going to be bad forever.” Frank assured him. “He’ll be okay.”  
~  
Mikey spent the entire car ride staring out the window, making minimal conversation when Gerard or Frank tried to engage him. It wasn’t unusual for Mikey to be quiet, but not like this. Gerard could usually pull some sort of conversation out of him, but lately he’d just been uninterested.   
Gerard hoped Pete would hurry up with whatever plan he had, because Mikey was clearly not at his best, and he really needed some sort of boost that his brother was incapable of giving him.  
But that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to try to cheer him up, and he was extremely thankful to Frank for suggesting this. He didn’t say anything like that in front of Mikey, but he would figure out a way to thank Frank for going out of his way to help Gerard with his brother’s issues.  
Honestly, Gerard was surprised at how chipper Frank was the whole way there. It was a little startling, considering everyone Gerard had been around lately had either been miserable, wild or stoic. The drama and fluctuating emotions were actually starting to get to him. He wondered how Ray always managed to deal with all of their issues without complaining.  
But Frank was very happy, perhaps because he was visiting family, or maybe even because he was bringing friends along, and his mood was ever so slightly rubbing off on Mikey. He wasn’t happy, Gerard noted, but he didn’t seem to be stuck in his head anymore.  
Frank pulled into the driveway of a pretty white house, thankfully avoiding hitting any loose chickens that were running around. The chickens cleared out of the driveway quickly, which was probably a good thing because, Gerard noticed with a chuckle, Mikey looked a little scared of them.  
Frank got out of the car first, followed by the more hesitant brothers, who were starting to feel a bit awkward and unwelcome when they remembered they didn’t know anybody here. That anxiousness was heightened by the two little girls that came running outside to excitedly hug Frank, and immediately ask who they were.  
“I brought friends for us to play with.” Frank explained to the kids with a smile. “That’s Gerard and Mikey.”  
The girls nodded, and one stepped over to Gerard and Mikey saying, “I’m Cherry, and this is Lily. If we play house,” She looked to Gerard, “You’ll have to be the mom, because we don’t have a mom, and he looks more like the family cat.”  
“I was a dog for Halloween.” Mikey said, which was a kind of weird thing to say, but he didn’t really know how to deal with children and that was what he thought of.  
“You can be a dog, but you should know that you look more like a cat.” Lily informed him.  
“Humans can look like animals?” Mikey asked, and Gerard elbowed him in the ribs because he was very much failing at talking to kids.  
Mikey was the youngest in the family. He clearly did not understand.  
“Of course they can, Mikey.” Frank said.  
“Oh.” Mikey did not sound sarcastic, he sounded genuinely interested. “What kind of animal is Gerard?”  
As the girls led Mikey to the house explaining something about Gerard being a vampire bat, Frank stayed back a moment to talk to Gerard.  
“He seems to be doing a bit better, right?” Frank asked.  
“Yeah, I think he’s doing better.” Gerard said. “You seem very concerned about my brother.”  
“It was upsetting you.” Frank said simply. “Come on, we’ve got some pies to eat.”  
~  
Meeting Frank’s aunt and uncle went a little smoother than Gerard expected, mainly because Frank told them he was bringing friends, and because they were very nice people. Frank wasn’t lying when he said his aunt made really good pies, and she was nice enough to package a few slices in containers for the three boys to take home with them.  
Later in the day, Frank suggested taking the golf cart out, which of course caused a flurry of excitement from his little cousins.  
“I wanna go with Frank!” Cherry exclaimed, grabbing his hand.  
“Me too!” Lily agreed, running so fast from the other side of the kitchen that she slammed into Frank, hugging his leg.  
“That can work. There’s enough room on the back that we can stick a little girl on either side of Mikey.” Frank said, then looked to Mikey. “Is that okay with you?”  
“Whatever works.” Mikey shrugged.  
It took a little while for Frank to drive along the edge of the field, but once they got to the woods, it was truly a gorgeous sight. The trees grew high above their heads, twining together to let only slivers of the blue-grey sky show through. The light that broke through from those slivers lit up the reds and golds of the fallen leaves scattered across the trail. It was impossible to resist the urge to breathe in that crisp autumn air, with eyes closed to let the feeling sink in.  
In the middle of the trail lay a large, fallen branch. Frank probably could have just went right over it, but he decided not to take the risk.  
“I should probably move that branch before running over it. It might snap back and hit Mikey and the girls.” Frank said, stopping the golf cart and jumping off.  
“You want help?” Gerard asked, about to get off too, but Frank declined by waving his hand for Gerard to sit back down.  
“It’ll only take a minute.” Frank said, leaves crunching under his feet as he walked away.  
Gerard sat back down, and watched Frank bend down to lift one end of the branch, and had the sudden realization that he was staring at Frank’s ass.   
He also didn’t stop staring even when he realized what he was doing, and just kept watching him as he dragged the branch out of their path.  
They were far out in the woods, and Gerard was sure Frank knew his way around here the way he easily navigated the winding paths with the golf cart. Out here, they would never be found. There was no one who could exploit or judge them. Out here, everything was peaceful, and everything was okay.  
He could see Frank’s muscles working under his sleeves as he moved the large branch, and found himself mentally undressing him, imagining those strong arms pinning him against the golf cart, doing things to him that no one else would ever know. That was really bad, he should not be thinking that way. Part of him wondered if this was only an aftereffect to the earlier confirmation that Frank was gay, but this wasn’t the first time he’d had such thoughts. It was just the first time it was so dirty during the day, with three of the biggest turn-offs sitting right behind him throughout the whole thing.   
Honestly, he’d completely forgotten that his brother and the kids were even there for a little while, getting much too caught up in his fantasy. Instead of letting himself slip back into that, he tuned into whatever conversation the little girls were having with Mikey.  
“If you tie a balloon to a camera, and let it go, it’ll go up, up, up, up, up until it’s in space and then the balloon will pop, and you follow it into space in your rocket ship, and get it.” Cherry explained. “And once the camera is done cameraing, you put it in your computer and all of the pictures will be there.”  
“Wow. That sounds complicated.” Mikey said. “Can’t you just take the pictures from your rocket ship?”  
“But then you don’t get a balloon.” Cherry said, as if Mikey were insane.  
“Yeah, Mikey, the balloon is important.” Gerard cut in, teasing his brother to make up for what he’d previously been thinking of.  
Mikey glared at Gerard and asked, “What color balloon?”  
“Red.” Cherry said, as Frank returned and started driving again.  
The little girls screamed as it started moving again, probably from excitement, but it made Mikey jump a little and hold on to their arms to make sure they wouldn’t fall off.  
“Do you like your pants like this?” Cherry asked, sticking a finger in one of the rips in Mikey’s jeans.  
“What? Um, yeah, that’s how they’re supposed to be.” Mikey replied, still not over being worried about them.  
“When you grow up, the holes will get bigger.”  
“Maybe.”  
“Oh look, a ladybug.” Mikey said, noticing the little orange insect hitching a ride on the top of his sneaker.  
He reached down and let it crawl onto his finger, then showed it to the girls, letting Lily hold it.  
“Wow.” She whispered, letting it crawl around on her finger. “It’s time for him to go.”  
Before Mikey could stop her, she threw the bug into the leaves. He hoped it had landed safely.  
“You know, you don’t have to hold on to the bars like that.” Cherry told him, looking kind of annoyed at his arms that were acting almost like a seatbelt to her and her sister.  
“But if I don’t you could fall.” Mikey said, looking concerned.  
“No, we’re small so we don’t fall off easy if there’s a hill.” Lily said. “You would fall. It’s called gravity.”  
“Gravity applies to everyone, though.” Mikey tried to explain.  
“Not me.” Gerard added to the conversation, and Mikey gave him an exasperated look.  
“I told you he was a vampire bat.” Cherry said matter-of-factly. “They can fly. You can fly, right?”  
“Of course, but I can’t do it in the daytime.” Gerard said, hushing his voice to a whisper, so the girls leaned in to listen in interest. “He has nine lives, but we have to be careful with him, because he’s on his last one.”  
Mikey scoffed, as if it were ridiculous that he would be on his last life.  
“Dude, you tried to take an electric heater into the shower last week. You’re definitely on your last life.” Gerard said.  
“What kind of animal is Frank?” Mikey asked, ignoring his brother.  
“A little dog.” Lily said.  
“No, a big dog.” Cherry argued.  
“A medium dog.” Lily compromised.  
“He loves dogs more than anybody ever.” Cherry said.  
“I know.” Gerard said.  
“How do you know?” Lily asked, and Frank finally showed he was paying attention to the conversation with a small chuckle.  
“Um,” Gerard said. “It’s a long story.”  
“What?” Mikey asked, looking weirded out.  
“He brought a puppy into a pizzeria.” Frank said through a laugh.  
“You what? Where did you get a puppy?” Mikey asked.  
“Tyler and Josh let me borrow Bandit.” Gerard said, smiling sheepishly.  
“How did you not get caught?” Mikey asked.  
“We just hid her in our coats and then left before we were caught.” Frank explained.  
“Are you having adventures without us?” Cherry asked, visibly annoyed.  
“Yeah, are you?” Mikey asked sternly, pouting jokingly.  
“We’re on an adventure now, aren’t we?” Frank asked. “We’re all here.”  
Gerard smiled.  
“It’s a pretty rad adventure.”


	13. First Kiss

Once home, Mikey closed himself in his room, and flopped down on his bed, pulling out his phone. It was nice of Frank and Gerard to bring him along, and he had to admit it was fun, but he knew why they’d done it, and he didn’t really want them to intervene with what he was going through. He knew what he needed, and he didn’t need their help or pity to get it. He would do it on his own.  
“Hey, can you come over tomorrow?”  
“I’m going to Cortisius for a college visit tomorrow.” Pete’s apologetic voice said from the other end of the phone.  
“Oh. My cousin goes there. She’s a freshman.” Mikey said, using his toes to grab a blanket at the end of his bed, and toss it onto the floor in a bored manner.  
“Do you want to come with me?”  
“To Cortisius?” Mikey asked.  
“Yeah. You can hang out with me, then visit your cousin.” Pete suggested.  
“Alright. I’ll ask my mom.”  
“Let me know if you can come. I’ll pick you up at nine.”  
“Okay, I’ll let you know.” Mikey said.  
There was a bit of a pause.  
“I’ll see you.”  
It wasn’t really what Mikey wanted to say, since another line had popped into his head that he was too scared to try out.   
“Okay, bye, Mikey. I’ll see you.”  
~  
It was a semi-dark day, pretty chilly, and just so completely in tune with autumn. Mikey walked side by side with Pete through the quad with his hands in the pockets of his sweatshirt. They descended some steps next to the dining hall, and took one of the pathways leading away from a statue of a man surrounded by frost covered flowers. The pathway was lined with trees that had already started losing their leaves, and benches in rows, the path littered with the oranges, yellows and reds of the fall leaves.  
“Cold?” Pete asked.  
He himself didn’t seem to be effected by the temperature, though Mikey always did get cold pretty quickly. All through the summer he wore layers, and Pete always joked about how he had to be overheating.  
“A bit.” Mikey shrugged.  
Pete began shrugging off his white denim jacket, and Mikey shook his head, hating himself for the color that rose to his cheeks.  
“Pete, don’t. Really, I’m fine.” Mikey said, even as a bit of the breeze caught him and he shivered.  
“Don’t lie to me, Mikey.” Pete said softly, stepping behind him, and holding the jacket out.  
Mikey didn’t have the willpower to refuse, so he allowed Pete to slip it over his arms, then take his hands and lead him to a bench off the path.  
“I have a question for you.” Pete said, as Mikey went against his own better judgement, pulling the jacket closer to him, and cuddling into it.  
“Okay.” Mikey said, turning a little on the bench, so he could see him better.  
“So, this is probably going to be long and it’s going to sound like I’m rambling, so I’m sorry, but um, I really, really like you Mikey Way, and we’ve been spending so much time together. Since the start of summer I haven’t gone a day without hearing your voice, and I think if I had one day without that I wouldn’t know what to do with myself. I’m thinking about how in less than a year I’m probably going to be sitting on this very bench, and when I do, I want to know that I made the right decision in this moment. So I had to ask myself when I came here ‘Is this what I want? Do I want to leave everything behind?’ And I realized I don’t. I don’t want to leave everything behind, and I realized that I didn’t have to. Not if I ask the right thing, right now. So when I sit on this bench a year from today, I won’t be alone. Not really. I know you’re only out to a few people, but we can keep it a secret, and nobody has to know if you don’t want them to... So...” Pete breathed deeply, his hands raised in the air as if he were trying to catch up with his thoughts, but was too nervous to finish them.  
“Pete, what are you trying to ask me?” Mikey caught his hands midair, and gently lowered them to his lap.  
Pete sighed, and returned the gesture by taking Mikey’s hands, stroking his knuckles with his thumb.  
“Can I be your boyfriend?” Pete finally asked.  
“Yeah.” Mikey laughed, squeezing his hands.  
“Okay, so follow up question,” Pete swallowed.  
“Oh no, what is it?” Mikey grinned, much too ecstatic to actually worry.  
“Okay, consider this. We took a walk through a gorgeous campus, talked and laughed, and had a generally good time. It’s a cold November day, and so I gave you my jacket, and we sat on a bench and I asked you out.” Pete said, and Mikey nodded, not sure why he was just recounting everything they did that day. “Would you consider that a romantic enough atmosphere for your first kiss?”  
Mikey’s stomach was turning over and over, and he was pretty sure if he spoke a hoard of butterflies were going to escape right out of his mouth.  
“Yeah, I would.” He breathed.  
Pete leaned over, very slowly, his lips just barely brushing against Mikey’s.  
“What’s wrong?” Mikey whispered when Pete wouldn’t go any further.  
“I’m scared.” Pete admitted, but he didn’t pull back.  
“You’ve done this before.” Mikey reminded him.  
“But it’s you, Mikey.” Pete’s breath was fanning across Mikey’s face as he waited for the next move to be made. “I want to make this perfect for you, and I’m afraid I don’t know how.”  
“I hear you’re not supposed to think about it so much.” Mikey said, and without thinking about it himself, he closed the space between them.  
Mikey wasn’t really sure how to avoid the awkward little nose bump that ensued as a result of him never actually considering that to be something that could happen. But Pete just smiled into his mouth, and steered him right, tilting his face so the awkward angles didn’t clash.  
A kiss wasn’t all soft and mushy like Mikey had imagined it. He wasn’t really sure where he’d gotten the idea that it was just as easy as smashing your lips together, and then that was that. There was no way that would be possible when everything was put into consideration, the lips and the teeth and the tongues. It was a lot to take in, and the feelings it brought to him were overpowering in all the right ways. The whole “sparks will fly” thing seemed a little silly to him before, but he could feel every nerve ending throughout him tingling like those fireworks they’d watched on the Fourth of July.  
Pete wasn’t just Pete anymore, it was as if he were a part of Mikey, an extension of his being. One of Pete’s hands was against Mikey’s cheek, his thumb tracing his jawline like it was some sort of ancient, sacred sculpture he had to be careful with, lest he break it. Pete’s other hand was on his leg, or maybe it was his own, perhaps both at the same time, Mikey wasn’t really sure, and he forgot to find out because he’d realized that he’d forgotten to keep breathing.   
He gasped a little to make up for that, and Pete retreated a little. Seeming to notice how Mikey was trying to catch up on lost breaths, he didn’t go back for such a passionate kiss. Instead, he planted short little kisses on each of the corners of Mikey’s mouth, then one good, drawn out kiss. He sucked a little on Mikey’s bottom lip, then gently scraped it with his teeth as he pulled away.  
“Pete...” Mikey sighed, and then jumped when his phone buzzed in his pocket.  
As he pulled it out, he had the realization that despite how alone and cut off from the world they felt, truly anyone could have seen them. Next time, he would be more careful, but right now he didn’t care, especially not with the taste of Pete’s lips still lingering on his own.  
“It’s my cousin.” Mikey said, scanning the text. “She said we can stop by anytime, and she’ll let us in the building.”  
“Alright.” Pete said, standing. “Do you want to tell her we’ll be over in a minute?”  
“Yeah, I’ll let her know. I think she’s in that building over there.” Mikey said, pointing to one of the residence halls.  
They started walking back towards that part of campus. Mikey was still glued to his phone, shooting texts back and forth with his cousin, but he kept his hip pressed against Pete’s, letting him guide him in the right direction without even looking up.  
“She said she’ll come down and let us in. She’s got a key card.” Mikey said as they reached the dorm building.  
They waited outside the doors to the dorm hall, waiting only a minute or so before a dark haired girl in an oversized sweatshirt in the college’s colors pushed open the doors.  
“Mikey!” The girl said happily, going onto her tiptoes to hug her cousin, then turning to Pete. “This must be your friend. Hi, I’m Helena.”  
“That’s Pete.” Mikey introduced.  
“Here, I’ll let you guys in.” Helena held up a lanyard with a key card on it, and swiped it in the magnetic reader, holding the door for them.  
They followed her up a ramp, still hip to hip, then over to the elevator, where Helena pressed the up button and leaned against the wall to wait for it, typing something on her phone.  
“It usually takes a long ass time to get here.” She explained. “I typically take the stairs because this stupid thing stops on like every floor and likes to randomly go to the basement for no reason, but I doubt you guys want to climb four flights. It kinda sucks.”  
The elevator arrived quicker than she’d expected, and they swapped places with a couple of tired looking college freshmen who were getting off on the first floor. Helena pressed the button to take them to the fourth floor, then suddenly decided to address something she’d noticed about Mikey.  
“Did you hurt your lip? It looks a little swollen.”  
“Um,” He muttered, taken aback, and rubbing at his bottom lip with the back of his hand. “Something like that.”  
She looked a little concerned, or maybe even a little curious, but didn’t say any more as the elevator reached her floor. Her room was the first on the left, and it opened into a lounge with a couch, four mini-fridges and a tv. Off of that, there were two separate rooms that shared the lounge, and Helena unlocked the one on the right.  
“Roommate not around?” Mikey asked, looking to the much messier side of the room when they entered.  
“She’s usually with her boyfriend. Doesn’t come back here very often.” Helena said, jumping up on her own bed, which was nicely made and tidy, unlike the other one which didn’t look like it could be slept in if you tried. “The soccer girls are usually pretty busy because of practice, but they also like to party, so they don’t usually show up until about two in the morning when they start slamming doors and being loud.”  
“That’s... Horrible.” Mikey said.  
“Yeah, it’s fine, as long as I don’t have a test the next day.” Helena shrugged. “And it’s not always, just more than I’d like. I’ll be moving in with some other friends I’ve met next year, though, so it won’t be a problem forever.”  
“How do you navigate around here?” Pete asked, pulling the map he’d been carrying around out of his pocket and opening it up. Mikey peeked over his shoulder to look at it again, then turned back to Helena. “It’s a lot in general, and the tunnels seem convenient but confusing.”  
“It’s not bad at all once you get used to it. The first few days were a bit confusing, but I could show you around no problem now.” Helena said, after typing another quick thing on her phone. Mikey wondered who she kept messaging. “The tunnels are actually really easy to navigate once you know them, but I can only use them for a while before I have to walk outside, since the majority of the buildings my classes are in don’t connect to the tunnels. It’s fine though, because it’s nice to take a little walk to get there.”  
“Gosh, I wish I was going to college next year.” Mikey sighed.  
“I wish you were too.” Pete said. “I could’ve had you as my roommate. That would have been fun.”  
“Don’t wish it away too fast, Mikey.” Helena said, watching the boys carefully. “You’ll miss being a kid. College is a lot of work, and a lot of stress. Not to worry you, Pete, you’ll be fine, but I’m just saying you should enjoy high school while it lasts, both of you.”  
She sighed, and for the first time since the kiss, Mikey distanced himself from Pete to go sit on the edge of Helena’s bed, looking concerned.  
“Are you holding up okay here, Lena?” Mikey asked gently.  
“Yeah.” She said, starting to not look so okay anymore.  
It wasn’t necessarily as if she were going to cry or anything, just that she looked kind of sick. She’d paled up quite a bit, and seemed to be holding in a lot of panic. Pete felt a bit like he should leave, because he figured she wouldn’t want someone she only just met around when she might need to just have a one on one with her cousin.  
“I dunno. It’s weird, it’s just lately, I’ve been really upset about practically everything. A lot of it is because of all the stress, but then I also miss Mom and Dad and Andy, and I always feel like I just really want to go home. But then whenever I do go home, it’s no better because I just want to come back here. Not because I want to be here, but because I feel like if I’m not constantly here working, I’m not doing what I need to do to do well. It’s been getting so much better, but I still freak out for no reason.”  
“Well, it’s the first semester. Isn’t that supposed to be the really hard one? Because you’re adjusting?” Mikey asked.  
“Yeah, that’s exactly what it is.” Helena sighed. “But that’s the exact reason I just want to make it past this semester and get to Christmas. I miss all of you guys, as well. The cousins.”  
“We miss you too.” Mikey said, comfortingly taking her hand, while Pete awkwardly busied himself with the map. “You’ll be fine. You’re so smart and you work so hard. It’s going to pay off.”  
“Thanks, Mikey.” Helena whispered, hugging him.  
Then, once she pulled back and regained herself, she took a deep breath and stood.  
“Sorry.” She said to the boys. “Why don’t we take a walk and I’ll show you those tunnels.”  
~  
“How’d you get on the roof with a guitar?” Gerard asked, when this time, before jumping into the room, Frank passed him his guitar through the window.  
“I just sort of let it hang on the strap and climbed.” Frank shrugged, taking the instrument back. “I brought it because I was jamming alone and got bored, so I decided it’d be more fun to play over here. You home alone?”  
“Yeah.” Gerard smiled, looking forward to this. “My parents took the car for inspection, and Mikey’s with Pete at a college visit or something.”  
“Good, that means I won’t be bothering anyone.” Frank said, sitting down in the middle of the room.  
He adjusted his guitar, and began just strumming a little something quietly. Gerard kneeled down in front of him, and watched his clever fingers work. The music was beautiful, and Gerard’s mind began going wild with improvised lyrics and a tune that would fit tremendously well with the haunting sound Frank was creating. It was coming to him like a floodgate had been opened in his head, and he had an idea, so he started to sing.  
“These are the eyes and the lies of the taken  
These are their hearts but their hearts don’t beat like ours  
They burn ‘cause they are all afraid  
For every one of us, there’s an army of them  
But you’ll never fight alone,”  
“Nice, I’m getting the mental image of like this huge battle scene, and I’m loving it.” Frank commented, seeming to be very happy that Gerard joined in.  
He was grinning widely, and had closed his eyes to really take in the lyrics Gerard was pumping out.  
“Cause I wanted you to know  
That the world is ugly,  
But you’re beautiful to me  
Well are you thinking of me now?”  
Frank’s rueful laugh was merely a breath of air, and Gerard knew he wasn’t quite getting it. He had caught Gerard’s use of his own words, but apparently the context was lost to him at the moment, and it hadn’t hit him what Gerard was trying to say. Honestly, he didn’t know how else to say it. He wanted to tell Frank that he didn’t know how to say it, so that’s what he sung next.  
“These are the nights and the lights that we fade in  
These are the words but the words aren’t coming out  
They burn ‘cause they are hard to say  
For every failing sun, there’s a morning after  
Though I’m empty when you go  
I just wanted you to know  
That the world is ugly  
But you’re beautiful to me  
Are you thinking of me,  
Like I’m thinking of you...?”  
Gerard trailed off, because he had realized that Frank had stopped playing somewhere along the way. He didn’t remember getting so close to him, but his knees were now right against Frank’s crisscrossed legs, and he was leaning forward just a little bit more than would be a comfortable distance.  
“I am.” Frank answered his question, somehow knowing that it wasn’t just a song, and that Gerard was trying to send a message that he was too afraid to convey any other way than through his music.  
So this was him coming out, in a way. He wasn’t defining himself, he still didn’t know that, but what he did know was that he wanted to be with Frank, so that’s what he tried to tell him. And Frank got it, he understood, and he wanted the same thing.  
So Gerard kissed him.  
He just planted his hands on the floor in front of him, leaned forward, and kissed him. That’s all it took. For something that had been so terrifying to him before, it was now the easiest thing in the world.  
Frank dropped his guitar so he could use his hands to weave them around Gerard’s back and pull him closer. The guitar was digging into Gerard’s ribs, but he couldn’t bring himself to care, and didn’t break the kiss even to let Frank remove the strap from his body and free them from the instrument.  
Since their legs were getting in the way, Gerard was sort of awkwardly bending over Frank so he had to tilt his head up much more than he would have had to otherwise. Because of his positioning, Gerard had to keep his hands on the ground, stabilizing him so he didn’t knock both of them over. Frank tried to fix this by stretching out his legs so they cut between Gerard’s, and they could get a bit of a better angling with Gerard now on Frank’s lap.  
Now that he didn’t have to worry about stabilizing himself, Gerard could finally do what he’d been wanting to do for so long, and get his hands all over Frank. Run his hands through his hair, over his face, his arms, his chest, his waist; he wanted everything, even if everything could never be enough.  
“What do you want, Gee?” Frank asked, his voice almost a whisper as he pulled back just slightly.  
“What?” Gerard murmured back, leaning away a little, but still keeping his arms wrapped around Frank. What he wanted was more of that, so he didn’t really get what had happened to make it stop.  
Frank took a loose strand of Gerard’s hair between his fingers, gazing at it as if it were the most fascinating thing in the world.  
“I’m trying really hard to be responsible here, and not let myself get carried away by this, because up until a few minutes ago, I didn’t know you were...” Frank’s lips pursed in thought, and he tucked the strand behind Gerard’s ear, turning his attention to his eyes. “Do you know what you are?”  
Gerard shook his head.  
“No, I don’t know.” He said. “I just know that I really like you, and I miss you more than I should when you’re gone. Sometimes it’s just the way you feel when you’re missing your best friend, and that’s always a challenge, because it’s hard if you don’t see that person every day. But then, I do see you every day, and it’s become more of a thing where I miss you from the moment you leave. And more and more I find myself having deeper thoughts, ones that I shouldn’t be having about my best friend.”  
Frank couldn’t force back the smile that crept across his face, and he said, “You consider me your best friend?”  
Gerard furrowed his eyebrows, as if he wasn’t sure why Frank wouldn’t have already known that.  
“Yeah, of course. I mean, I’ve got Mikey and Ray, too, but they’re a different kind of best friend. I don’t know how to explain it.” Gerard realized what he was saying, and blushed a little. “Well, I mean, I guess I do, I obviously wouldn’t do that with either of them... So... I guess that’s what it is.”  
“I think I understand what you’re saying.” Frank nodded.  
“Good, because I’m really bad at trying to express how I’m feeling.”  
“I’d say you’re doing a pretty good job.”  
“I don’t know about that.” Gerard said anxiously. “There’s a lot of things I wish I knew how to say, but I don’t know how to put them into words.”  
“Alright, then don’t use words.”  
Frank leaned back into Gerard, taking his mouth again, and finishing what they started.


	14. Christmas

Usually Frank would sit on his roof to think, but the snow was falling pretty heavy that night, and he figured it would just be better to crack the window for some fresh air. From his seat at his desk, he was put in perfect view of the Way’s house next door, showing him a bit of how they lived their lives when he wasn’t around.  
He felt like he might be being a bit intrusive, but he couldn’t stop himself from watching as his mind wandered and he got lost in his head.  
The first window directly across from his was vacant and dark, letting the snow pile up on the sill, which would make it harder for him to climb through as often as he usually did. The light was on in the one to the right, but the blinds were drawn to block out anyone from looking in. Frank could see two silhouettes framed by the window, however, and he was pretty sure that room was where the faint sound of Christmas music was coming from. The figures were melded together, the taller one bent down a bit to bury his head in the shorter one’s shoulder. They moved in little rocking circles together, in time to the soft music. They were slow dancing, Frank realized with a little smile. Despite only being able to see the shape of the two, Frank didn’t have to think much to figure out who it was. He knew the room next to Gerard’s was Mikey’s, and Pete’s car was in the driveway. Frank was glad those two seemed to be doing well. He wondered if Gerard knew they were so happy. He hadn’t said anything to Frank about it, so maybe Mikey hadn’t told him yet.  
Gerard was downstairs in the living room, Frank could see, sitting crosslegged on the floor, not the couch. He was watching some Christmas movie with his mom, laughing about something on the screen Frank couldn’t hear. Despite that, his mind still filled in that joyful laugh, one that was ingrained in his memory and he hoped would never disappear. Even though he couldn’t hear it, he felt like he could, and it made his heart flutter a little in his chest. He needed to hear it for real again.  
The kitchen window revealed the location of Gerard’s dad. He had a frown on his face as he poured a drink, and Frank shifted uncomfortably at the sudden memory of his own father doing the same.  
Frank closed his window, turning off his desk lamp and flopping into bed. He rubbed at his eyes, and stared at the ceiling for a little wile, thoughts running wild in his head until he fell asleep.  
~  
Gerard was sitting at the kitchen table, texting Frank and pretending to do Chemistry homework. He probably should be getting work done, but talking to Frank was so much more enjoyable than figuring out empirical formulas. Christmas break was in three days, anyway, and nobody really cared about schoolwork right then, anyway. Especially not the Seniors.  
Mikey came into the kitchen, dropping a laundry basket full of presents Donna had asked him to wrap for their cousins near the door.  
“Hey, Mom?” Mikey asked, leaning casually against the counter. “Pete’s parents are in DC again, and they don’t come back until early Christmas morning... Can he come with us to Grammy and Pops’ so he’s not alone on Christmas eve?”  
Gerard wondered if their mother found it odd that Mikey was asking for Pete rather than Gerard, but he didn’t hear her question that. Perhaps Donna knew a little more than she let on, or maybe it just didn’t seem that weird to her.  
“Oh, that is so thoughtful of you, honey.” Donna said. “I think that’s a lovely idea, and I’m certain your grandparents would be happy to host another person.”  
“Okay, cool.” Mikey said, grabbing more wrapping tape from the drawer and heading back upstairs without another word.  
~  
So Pete came to the Way family’s Christmas Eve dinner. Gerard could tell that Pete felt a little awkward at first, but he definitely seemed happy to be around Mikey for Christmas. Honestly, he did seem happy to not be alone for Christmas. Pete and Gerard were talking to Pops about college selections for the next year, and how Senior year was going when the Biersack family arrived. Including a very excited Helena. After hugging and chatting with the Dun twins, Maggie and Jenny, she headed over to greet Mikey, Gerard and Pete.  
“Oh my gosh, hello!” She said, plopping down on the couch across from them, flanked by the twins. “This is very unexpected, I hope you remember me, this is Maggie and Jenny.”  
“I remember you, hi.” Pete said, waving his hand slightly.  
“Cool, that’s good.” Helena said. “What are you doing here? I didn’t think I’d see you again.”  
Gerard found this conversation very strange. Helena could be a bit overwhelming at times around the cousins, but she wasn’t one to chat so readily with people she barely knew. Why was she so interested in Pete, and why were the twins giving each other those weird looks that always made him feel like they knew something he didn’t?  
“Oh, uh, my parents are in DC working on a political campaign, and won’t be back until tomorrow morning.” Pete said. “So you know, the Ways were very nice and invited me over for Christmas so I didn’t have to be alone.”  
“Oh, that’s so sweet.” Helena said, looking a little pityingly at Pete for a second. “You know, you should talk to Andy–that’s my brother–he’s really into politics.”  
“Okay, will do.” Pete said, giving a side glance to Mikey for assistance.  
“Alright, talk to you guys later.” Helena said. “Merry Christmas, guys.”  
And with that, she disappeared into the back room with the twins and her laptop.  
~  
Dinner, as always, was absolutely delicious. It was a surprise anyone had any room left for cookies and coffee afterwards, but everyone always did seem to have more room on holidays. And of course, there was always room for coffee for the Ways.  
“How was the first semester of college, Helena?” Donna asked, interrupting the girls from giggling about something.  
“Good. It was a little crazy, and a big adjustment, but it was pretty fun, I guess.” Helena replied. “The workload was a lot, honestly. It was very hard, but it ended well. But hey, come next year, Gee and the twins are going to be starting college, and at least they’ll have someone with a bit of experience to help them through.”  
She grinned at Gerard, Maggie and Jenny, who gave her a smile and a double side hug respectively.  
“There hasn’t been any boys, now has there?” Pops teased, making Helena blush.  
“No, not really. One of my roommate’s friends claimed to have a crush on me after the first two days, but I found that awfully strange, considering he barely knew me. Same thing happened the week before exams with a friend of my friend, and I just don’t know where these guys get the idea that they like a girl they don’t even know.” She rolled her eyes. “Boys this age only seem to care about physical appearance, and personality has nothing to do with it. It’s sad really, we’re supposed to be considered adults. They really can be idiotic. No offense.” She added, looking to her brother, cousins, and Pete across the table.  
“None taken.” Pete said. “You’re not wrong.”  
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Mikey muttered, giving him a strange, slightly offended glance.  
Helena glanced to Maggie and Jenny, and the three girls smirked and nodded as if they were having some sort of telepathic conversation.  
“How about you girls?” Their grandfather really liked teasing the girls about if they had boyfriends or not, and the answer was always no. Gerard wasn’t sure why he even asked anymore, and if it was just to tease them or to actually find out if they had a romantic partner or not.  
“Nope.” Jenny shrugged.  
“Only Shemar Moore.” Maggie sighed dreamily.  
“Who is Shemar Moore?” Her dad asked, looking alarmed.  
“He’s a celebrity on a procedural cop show.” Helena rolled her eyes, as if Gerard hadn’t heard her referring to some thirty year old in a band as her “husband” a few minutes before. He wouldn’t bring that up though, since he didn’t want to hear her try to justify it by reminding them that she’s a legal adult now, while the rest of them aren’t. “It’s a joke.”  
“What about the boys?” Their grandmother asked, laughing a bit.  
Mikey coughed, nearly choking on his coffee, and the girls did their weird telepathy thing again, this time something happened between them that had Helena kicking Jenny under the table as a warning of some sort. It was weird how girls worked like that.  
“I actually, um, have something.” Mikey said anxiously. He’d clearly been working up the courage to do this for so long, and now was a chance, and it was stressing the hell out of him. Gerard was surprised he was making the attempt to say something, and part of him hoped he would finally follow through with it. But at the same time, he was very nervous for his little brother, especially with the confused expressions their parents gave him. “Um, me and Pete, we’re boyfriends. So like, dating. I’m gay... That’s what I’m trying to say. Just so you all know.”  
“Oh, I knew it!” Helena exclaimed happily, practically jumping out of her seat. It was a bit obnoxious, but it prevented the awkward silence that would have followed while the news was processed by the others, so it was actually a good thing. “You’re so cute with each other, I could just tell!”  
“We’ve been shipping you two.” Jenny admitted just as excitedly.  
“What does shipping mean?” Asked Grammy, the first of the actual adults to speak.  
“It’s when you like the idea of a pair of people being in a relationship together, Grammy.” Maggie explained.  
“Oh, can I ship them, or is that only for the kids?” Grammy asked.  
“You can ship them.” Maggie said.  
“Mikey.” Pops said sternly, and Mikey’s bashful demeanor changed to a stiff and worried one. “Why didn’t you tell us sooner? We almost missed out on the Induction Ceremony.”  
“The what?” Pete asked, now the nervous one as Mikey visibly relaxed in relief.  
“Get the spoon!” Jenny exclaimed happily, and within a split second, she and her sister were on either side of Pete.  
Gerard wasn’t sure if they’d crawled under the table or were just that fast. He wasn’t ruling either option out. The twins could be slightly scary at times.  
“The what?” Pete repeated, looking even more terrified.  
Jenny and Maggie ignored him, and each took one of Pete’s arms, dragging him into the living room. Helena stood calmly, smoothing her dress and then disappearing into the kitchen.  
“Are you ready?” Maggie asked excitedly.  
“I don’t know what I’m supposed to be ready for.” Pete said, looking to Mikey for help, but he was only greeted by an amused smile.  
Helena strode in, holding the end of a spoon between her fingers, and held it in front of Pete’s face as if she were about to knight him with it.  
“You wanna do the honors of explaining?” Helena asked Gerard, wrapping an arm around his neck and tilting her head to the side, still looking at the freaked out Pete. “He’s your brother to give away.”  
“We’re not getting married, Lena.” Mikey shook his head, but he was still grinning widely, riding on all the good vibes and positive support he hadn’t even thought he was going to get from his family.  
“You should though!” Jenny piped up.  
“Somebody please explain to the poor guy what you’re doing to him.” Andy said, shaking his head.  
“Okay, so there’s this thing we do whenever a member of this family starts a serious relationship.” Gerard said, taking the spoon from Helena. “They have to perform a weird task to basically get inducted into the family. So you have to balance this spoon on your nose and sing Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.”  
“What.” Pete said, not even really a question, more a statement of his astonishment.  
“We don’t make the rules, we just know it’s what happens.” Tyler said, shrugging. “This has been going on way longer than us kids have been around.”  
“Blame Pops.” Maggie said.  
“Me?” Pops said, looking fake offended. “I would never start such a ridiculous thing.”  
“I mean, technically, we could end it with this generation and not do it right now.” Josh suggested. “I mean, none of the rest of us have had significant others yet.”  
“No!” The others protested, clearly not agreeing.  
“It’s important, Josh!” Tyler exclaimed.  
Josh shrugged, accepting the loss of his unpopular opinion.  
“Fair enough.” He said. “Good luck keeping him around after being subjected to our family, Mikey.”  
“I don’t care.” Pete said, not realizing that Josh was merely teasing Mikey. “I’m not going anywhere.”  
“Oh, this one’s a keeper, kid.” Pops said approvingly.  
Mikey blushed, and the girls squealed. Actually squealed.  
“Dear lord.” Gerard said, taking the spoon from Helena and handing it to Pete. “Here, go for it.”  
Pete, as it turned out, was very talented at balancing a spoon on his nose. It did not fall off once, throughout the entire rendition of Rudolph, which was less impressive due to the fact that Pete didn’t know all of the words. Or perhaps it was more impressive considering Pete improvised his own lyrics to fill in the blanks. Who knows, maybe Rudolph does have a troubled emo soul.  
Sometime after Pete had finished, the teenagers were all somehow ushered into the small back room, probably by the girls. Andy ended up in one of the armchairs, and Mikey and Pete together on the other. Gerard took a seat on the computer chair, and Tyler, Josh and the girls spread out on the floor. Maggie somehow managed to sneak in enough time to fill two plates with cookies and bacon wrapped scallops, and placed those in the middle of them all.  
“So do you two kiss or is that not a thing yet?” Helena asked immediately.  
“Not around you guys.” Mikey muttered, feeling strange.  
“I don’t believe you.” Maggie said, crossing her arms. “We need proof that you’re not just friends faking it for the shock factor.”  
“Nice conspiracy theory.” Mikey said, rolling his eyes, and turning his head to receive a quick peck on the lips from Pete.  
“That was weak.” Jenny chided.  
“Like I said, not around you guys.” Mikey said. “It’s weird.”  
“Either way, it’s hilarious. It just figures that the youngest cousin would get his first kiss before the oldest gets hers.”  
“Bitch.” Helena said, kicking Jenny in the side of her leg.  
“Yeah, and you’re in college, that makes it worse.” Maggie added teasingly.  
“Excuse me, but last time I checked this was not a Helena shame conversation, geez.” Helena said. “Besides, didn’t we just go over the fact that all the guys at college that want to kiss me are only in it for that very reason, and from my observations are not in the slightest bit compatible with me?”  
“Doesn’t matter. You’ve still been beat.” Maggie said.  
“Well, why don’t you guys tease Gee?” Helena complained, pointing at him. “He’s Mikey’s older brother. Plus, he’s only like six months younger than me.”  
“I never said I haven’t kissed anyone.” Gerard said casually.  
“What!?” Helena asked. “Who?”  
“I don’t have to tell.”  
Maybe he shouldn’t have said anything in the first place.  
“Does Mikey not even know?” Jenny asked, jaw dropping as she noticed Mikey’s curious look at his brother.  
“Not now.” Gerard said, shrugging to try to pass it off as nothing. “You guys can all find out when and if I ever decide to tell you.”  
“Unfair.” Maggie said. “We’ll figure it out, somehow.”  
“Yeah, how’d you guys figure us out?” Mikey asked, pointing between himself and Pete.  
Gerard mentally thanked his brother for diverting the conversation, even though he was probably going to hear about this later. Especially since they usually told each other everything. Mikey had called him immediately after visiting Helena to tell him about kissing Pete. Maybe he should have said something about himself, since it was the same day, but things were too complicated, and he still didn’t know if he wanted Mikey to know about him and Frank.  
“When you guys visited me at college in November,” Helena began, “I was like freaking the fuck out and texting the group chat because I was thinking there was no way you two were just friends.”  
“I’ve got all the texts, wanna hear?” Jenny asked.  
“Oh my god.” Helena said, half scared and half amused.  
“Yeah, I want to hear.” Mikey said, interested.  
“It stared with ‘lol so Mikey and some friend of his are coming to visit at my college for some reason I’m so confused.’” Jenny read. “And then about an hour later, in all caps, ‘HOLY SHIT ‘FRIEND’ IS SUPER HOT AND DOES NOT ACT LIKE A ‘FRIEND’.’”  
“Aw, you think I’m hot?” Pete asked, grinning.  
“I didn’t mean it like that,” Helena said, a little flustered. “I meant for Mikey.”  
“Maggie asked, ‘wtf are you talking about?’ and Helena said, again all caps, ‘I THINK I SHIP THEM.’ and Andy said ‘You ship everything.’” “Andy’s a part of this group chat?” Gerard asked, trying to decide if he was annoyed or glad to be excluded from this thing.  
“I ignore the gossip for the memes.” Andy shrugged. “They send some good memes.”  
“We don’t gossip, we fangirl.” Maggie protested.  
“Whatever, the memes are important.” Andy said. “You should show them that one video of Goofy singing Bring Me To Life.”  
“Later.” Helena said.  
“Are you guys a part of this thing?” Gerard asked Tyler and Josh.  
“No, and I’m mad you didn’t tell us.” Tyler said, frowning at his sisters. “Why is Andy allowed?”  
“We like memes.” Josh said, crossing his arms.  
“It’s because my sister shares things with me, and yours don’t.” Andy told them.  
“He’s not wrong.” Helena said. “Okay, keep reading.”  
“Helena said, ‘Guys, they’re checking out the dorm as if they’re a married couple trying to decide if they want to buy an apartment.’ Then in a separate text a minute later, ‘cute ‘friend’ is following Mikey around like a lovesick puppy with intense heart eyes.’ I said ‘awww that’s so cute, what does cute possible bf look like?’ and Helena took a creep shot of you and sent it.” Jenny said.  
“Is that what you were doing on your phone the whole time?” Mikey asked.  
“You know, I thought we were teasing you, not me.” Helena said. “But yes.”  
“How did you get a picture without us knowing?” Pete asked, looking slightly confused and impressed. “I want to see.”  
Jenny clicked on the photo, and showed her phone to everyone. It depicted a puzzled looking Pete trying to decipher a campus map, while Mikey leaned closely over his shoulder to see.  
“I don’t remember doing that.” Mikey said, heat rising to his cheeks.  
“I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t remember half the things you did that day that made me figure you two out. And I figured it out pretty quickly, mind you.” Helena said.   
“Send that to me.” Pete said, zooming in on the picture and grinning.  
“Noooo.” Mikey complained. “You’ll use it for blackmail.”  
“Indeed I will, baby boy.”  
“Oh my fucking god.” Jenny gasped at the nickname. “That is so cute.”  
“Holy shit, this is very serious.” Maggie said.  
Then, without any explanation, all three girls abruptly left the room. From what the boys could tell, they hadn’t even communicated to each other that it was time for just the three of them to leave, but for some reason they all knew to.  
“Those girls.” Josh said, shaking his head.  
“How do they know to travel in packs?” Tyler asked. “The twins do it at home, too. Which I guess is less creepy when it’s just two of them, and the whole twin telepathy shit, but all three of them is weird.”  
“They’ll be back soon, I’m certain.” Andy said.  
He was mostly correct in his assumption, as Helena and Jenny returned not to long after, and Maggie was likely close behind, probably just getting more scallops.  
“Okay, so I think we need to have a talk.” Helena said sternly to Mikey and Pete, then looked to Jenny. “Okay, how do we do this?” “Why are you asking me?” Jenny asked.  
“Because you’re bad cop. You have to ask the tough questions.”  
“I’m not bad cop, you’re bad cop.”  
“I can’t be bad cop! I’m too nice an innocent.”  
“No, I am.”  
“You’re far from innocent, Jen.” Helena said, raising an eyebrow.  
“Oh yeah, because you’re so much better!”  
“I am.” Helena said seriously. “We all know this.”  
“I’ll take care of it.” Maggie swooped in, hands on her hips.  
“When did she even come into the room?” Tyler exclaimed.  
“Oh, there’s bad cop.” Helena said. “We’ll both be good cop.”  
“A two headed good cop.” Jenny agreed.  
“Are you two having sex?” Maggie asked.  
Helena burst out laughing, and Pete’s eyes widened, though Mikey seemed unfazed by the question.  
“Maggie, we weren’t being serious about this conversation, way to go for subtlety.” Helena laughed.  
“No, we’re not.” Pete said defensively.  
“Pete, you don’t have to answer her, she’s the blunt one.” Mikey sighed. “It’s best to ignore most of what comes out of Maggie’s mouth.”  
“I don’t think this is working.” Maggie said, effectively ignoring Mikey’s suggestion to ignore her. “I think we need to put the fear of god into him.”  
“No, shut up.” Mikey said.  
“I’ve killed a man.” Tyler deadpanned.  
“Stop telling people that!” Josh exclaimed. “The cops are going to show up at our house!”  
“He’s not serious, just so you know.” Jenny said calmly.  
“Yes he is!” Maggie blurted. “Tyler and I are killing machines and if you don’t treat our little cousin right, we will not hesitate to destroy you.”  
“Why am I related to you people?” Josh asked, rubbing his hands over his face.  
Gerard shook his head, and stood.  
“As much as I don’t want to miss any of this weird shit, I’ve got to use the bathroom.” He said. “I’ll be back.”  
On his way back from the bathroom, he noticed the living room was quite quiet for Christmas eve. Usually, the adults were a little chatty and loud from a few drinks at this point, but that wasn’t the case this time. Curious, Gerard poked his head into the living room. Helena and Andy’s parents were talking to his mom, and his Grammy was showing off a new Christmas decoration to his other aunt and uncle.  
“Where’s Dad and Pops?” He asked, not sure if he wanted to hear the answer.  
“They’re outside.” Donna said, but her tone worried Gerard, and he let that show. “Don’t worry about it honey, go spend some time with your cousins.”  
Gerard didn’t leave, especially not when his grandfather returned to the house, but not his father.  
“He’s mad about Mikey, isn’t he?” Gerard asked, feeling the anger bubbling up inside him.  
“Just give him time, he’ll realize how ridiculous he’s being eventually.” Pops said gently.  
“Goddamn it.” Gerard muttered, turning on his heel and returning to the back room.  
He didn’t speak much after that. Even when Helena asked him if he was okay, quickly taking note of his new mood. He just nodded unconvincingly and watched the others all just chat and be happy. He wasn’t going to take that from them by letting them know what they’d eventually learn later. Gerard had never seen Mikey this happy before, and the thought of that being crushed later was like fuel to the firey rage against his father.  
~  
“Dad’s not riding home with us?” Mikey asked quietly on the way to the car.  
It was clear that he knew why by the tone of his voice. It wasn’t fair that he should be so happy today, and had to have that taken away so quickly. Gerard wasn’t sure if it was a good thing their father left early or if it would have been better if he stuck around, even if he wasn’t exactly pleased with Mikey’s romantic choices. Either way, this was likely to end in a disaster.  
“He left a little early.” Donna said simply, pursing her lips. “That’s alright, the car ride home will be nicer this way.”  
Mikey sighed, and climbed into the car, followed by Pete, who looked like he was feeling very awkward about the situation. He must have no idea what to do, and Gerard couldn’t blame him.  
Gerard took shotgun, and messed with the radio while his mom finished loading the trunk. He put the station on some cheerful Christmas songs, and stared out the window at his grandparents’ lit up house. He could see through the window of the car parked in front of them, where Helena and Andy were laughing about something in the backseat. He still couldn’t bring himself to be happy, but it was a small relief that their father wasn’t around right then.  
“Oh, good song.” Donna said, getting into the car, and turning up Burl Ives. “We’ll drop Pete off at home first, okay?”  
She backed out of the driveway, and Gerard spent most of the ride staring out the window at the Christmas lights, halfheartedly listening to Mikey and Pete’s conversations in the back.  
“Thanks for inviting me to your family Christmas.” Pete said as they pulled into his driveway. “I had a lot of fun.”  
“Of course, sweetheart.” Donna said, as Pete reached up front to give her one of those awkward car hugs. “Have a good night.”  
“I will.” Pete said, patting Gerard on the shoulder. “I’ll see you around, Gee.”  
“Have a good New Years.” Gerard replied. “I’ll see you back at school.”  
“Ugh, let’s not think about school right now.” Pete popped open the car door, and half slid out, but sort of partially sat in the seat, contemplating something.  
Mikey was looking anxious in the backseat, stepping on the foxing of his converse over and over again.  
Gerard and Donna figured out pretty quickly why there was tension in the backseat, and made a point to look away. However, both of them kept an eye on the rearview mirror out of curiosity.  
“Merry Christmas, baby boy.” Pete murmured, leaning over to give Mikey a quick kiss on the cheek before jumping out of the car and running to his doorstep.  
Just before slipping inside, he turned back and waved. As they pulled out of the driveway, the Christmas lights lining the house flickered on, cutting through the darkness in illuminating green and red.  
“He’s adorable, Mikey.” Donna smiled knowingly, and looked at the mirror to catch her youngest son’s reddened, embarrassed face.  
“Mom, you’ve known Pete for years, don’t act like he’s some new person.” Mikey complained.  
“I know.” Donna said. “It’s just, I’ve never seen him look like that before.”  
Mikey retreated, slumping further into his seat, and hiding his face in his jacket collar.  
“She means she’s never seen him look so in looove.” Gerard said bluntly, causing Mikey to zip himself into his jacket so all that could be seen was the top of his head. “Mikey, come on, we’re only teasing you.”  
“Make it stop.” Mikey groaned.  
“I’m surprised you took so long to tell us. I wasn’t expecting it after you already started dating him.” Donna mentioned.  
“I knew before.” Gerard said, turning off some pop rendition of a classic Christmas song on the radio.  
“Of course you knew.” Donna said. “You two tell each other everything, leaving us parents to have to speculate.”  
“Why, did you guess?” Mikey asked, his head popping out of the jacket like a turtle from its shell.  
“I’d been wondering why Pete was coming by every day this summer while Gerard was working.” Donna said. “I wasn’t too surprised today, is what I’m saying. Your father, however...”  
“Don’t worry about that, I’ll deal with it later.” Mikey said, not sounding as upset as they would have expected. “Let’s just go home, I’m pretty tired.”


	15. Confrontation

It was surprising that Donald came home at all that night, what with his clear annoyance with poor Mikey, and the storm that was starting outside. Gerard was on his way back to his room from the bathroom, and caught a bit of the conversation his parents were having in their bedroom as he passed.  
He was already in a bad mood because of the situation, but then he heard his father grumble something like, “That kid’s gone and ruined Christmas.” and his mother make a statement of denial of some sort, “No, no, Christmas isn’t ruined, Donald.”  
This had Gerard fuming, and he didn’t even know why, but he went straight to Mikey’s room. He really shouldn’t say anything about it, but it was out of his mouth before he could stop himself.  
“He’s saying you ruined Christmas now. I’m so fucking pissed.” Gerard said, slamming Mikey’s door behind him.  
“It’s okay. He’ll get over it.” Mikey said, sounding a bit sad, but otherwise unfazed.  
“That’s not how it works, Mikey, he’s being an asshole.”  
“Gee, he’s not that hateful deep down. Give him time, he just doesn’t understand me yet.” Mikey said, turning the page in his new comic book. “Seriously, I’m okay. I’m actually a lot happier than I’ve been in a long time. I’ve got such a huge weight off my chest. Grammy and Pops are being really supportive, Mom’s not upset at all, I’m pretty sure Jenny and Maggie started planning our wedding, and I just found out that Helena’s been giving Pete information about Cortisius. He’s decided that’s where he’s going next year, and it’s close so that makes me happy. Things are really good right now, I’m not going to let one stupid thing take that away from me.”  
“Well, I’m still angry.” Gerard grumbled. “The asshole’s putting you through hell with his homophobic beliefs, it serves him right that he would have not one but two gay sons.”  
“Wait, Gerard, what?” Mikey asked, setting down his comic in surprise. “Are you for real?”  
Gerard just crossed his arms and nodded.  
“Why didn’t you tell me? We could’ve hit them with a double whammy on Christmas.” Mikey said. “That would’ve been interesting.”  
“I’m still not entirely sure yet.” Gerard said, now feeling a little weird for admitting that to Mikey. “I’m still trying to figure out what exactly it is that I am.”  
“Oh, okay.” Mikey said, cocking a half-grin. “Well, if you need anyone to talk to about it, I might have a little bit of experience with the subject.”  
Gerard was feeling a bit jittery now, he was bouncing his leg and he sighed heavily.  
“You okay?” Mikey asked.  
“Not really.” Gerard said. “I shouldn’t burden you with my problems when you’ve probably got more to worry about.”  
Mikey swung his legs around so he was sitting on the edge of the bed, and giving Gerard a stern look, he patted the mattress next to him.  
“Sit.” Mikey said. “And start talking.”  
Gerard sighed again, and did as he was told, because that’s what he did with his brother. It was kind of foolish to think that he couldn’t tell Mikey all of this, because they told each other everything, and they always listened to each other. It didn’t matter what else was going on.  
“So,” Gerard began, biting his bottom lip nervously. “For about a month now, I’ve been kind of having this... Thing with Frank.”  
“Alright, I’m not gonna lie that’s not too much of a surprise to me.” Mikey admitted. “Keep going.”  
“Right, so, back in November, when you were at Helena’s college with Pete, I kissed him. I’d been thinking that I had deeper feelings for him a long time before that, but I wasn’t sure how to act on it, and I honestly didn’t know if they were real or not, because I had no idea what I was even into at that point. I still can’t be entirely sure, and it’s not helping with what Dad’s been saying. I can’t help but be confused when you’re not even getting the support you deserve.” Gerard said, his anger at the situation still not calmed. “So after that it didn’t really become much more than that, like we haven’t said anything about dating or that kind of thing, but it’s been a lot of kissing, and it got kind of... Touchy, once.”  
“Touchy?” Mikey raised an eyebrow when Gerard blushed.  
“Yeah, I dunno, it wasn’t like it was... Well, I dunno, I kind of ended up on his lap, and it was mostly just my leg but... I sometimes think about more.” Gerard said, furrowing his eyebrows. “I think I want more.”  
“Yeah, I know how that feels.” Mikey admitted, laughing a little.  
“I thought you guys decided you weren’t ready.”  
“We’re not.” Mikey said. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t think about it.”  
“Gross.” Gerard teased, smiling a little for the first time in a while that night.  
“Says you.” Mikey said, whacking him lightly with his pillow. “Touchy.”  
“I could get more detailed if you want.” Gerard joked.  
“Ew, jerk.” Mikey said, rolling his eyes. “Whatever, I’ll go talk to Dad if it’s bothering you. You’re not wrong, he is being a dick.”  
Mikey put away his comic, and stood up, heading for the door.  
“Wait, right now?” Gerard asked, surprised.  
“Yeah, why not?”  
“Well, he’s mad now, you should wait until he calms down.” Gerard suggested worriedly.  
“I think I’d actually rather do it when he’s mad right now.” Mikey decided. “I want to hear what he really has to say about it. Not what Mom or Grammy or Pops has told him to say to me. Bring on the worst of it now, get it over with.”  
“Mikey, I don’t think that’s the best idea!” Gerard exclaimed, but Mikey was out the door with a newfound determination.  
~  
“I want to know what your problem is with what happened tonight.” Mikey said, boldly bursting into his parents’ room.  
“Mikey, honey,” Donna warned, standing up from where she was sitting on the bed.  
“I’m not having this conversation with you tonight, boy.” Donald snapped. “Get your ass to bed, you have to be ready for your mother’s side of the family’s Christmas tomorrow. I don’t want you fucking that up, too.”  
“Why don’t you want to talk about it?” Mikey asked. “Do you want more time to come up with a legitimate reason to actually be mad?”  
“Don’t you sass me, I have plenty of reasons to be disappointed in you!”  
“Oh, it’s a disappointment thing.” Mikey said, nodding.  
“Of course it is, you know very well that there are consequences to your actions!”  
“Like what, Dad?” Mikey asked exasperatedly. “Being with someone who makes me happy, instead of spending the rest of my life pretending to be someone I’m not? I could grow up, find some girl to marry, have a kid or something, and then spend the rest of my life wishing I hadn’t succumbed to your pressuring. So no, I’m not going to do that, I’m going to do what I know is right for me.”  
“I did not raise you to act like this.” Donald spat. “I raised you to have good morals, and to act right so you wouldn’t be damned like you certainly are now. You’ll never get to heaven with a life like yours.”  
“I mean, I’d rather not go wherever you’re going, but if that’s what being with Pete means, I guess I’ll see you down there.”  
“Mikey!” Donna said, her eyebrows raised.  
He probably shouldn’t have said that.  
Mikey abruptly left the room, pulling out his phone and sending a text, then began to stuff his backpack with things he would need for the night. He managed to make it all the way down the stairs with his things before his father snapped out of his shock at being so badly disrespected by his son and followed after him.  
“Where are you going?” Donald asked, as Mikey headed for the front door.  
“Grammy and Pops’.” Mikey replied calmly, hearing Gerard run for the stairs to see what was going on and try to help Mikey.  
“Absolutely not, I forbid you from imposing on them for your own selfish actions!”  
“Well I’m not staying here, so the other option is I get a hotel room and call Pete.” Mikey said, watching carefully for a reaction.  
His father was silent.  
“I’m going to Grammy and Pops’.” He said firmly.  
Mikey walked out the door, but his father followed him out.  
“And how do you think you’re getting there?” He snapped.  
“Helena is on her way.” Mikey said, not turning around.  
“Oh, absolutely not, you little...”  
He grabbed Mikey’s jacket and whipped him around, pointing a threatening finger in his face.  
Helena’s little black car pulled up on the side of the street just then. She immediately got out of her car, rushing over to intervene. She was wearing a large coat over her pajamas, clearly having rushed over as soon as Mikey texted her. Gerard was at the front door now, looking scared after coming to investigate all the yelling.  
“Uncle Donald, please.” Helena begged, coming up between him and Mikey.  
“You need to mind your own business, girl. You never should have come here.”  
He shoved her out of the way and turned back to his son, causing the older one to cry out from the porch.  
“Dad!”  
“Gerard, stay in the house!” Donald commanded, quieting Gerard and causing him to reluctantly retreat back into the doorway.  
Helena took that moment of distraction to shove herself back between Donald and Mikey, gently pushing Mikey towards where her car was parked. He stood by the passenger door, but didn’t get in.  
“Get your ass back here!” Donald yelled at him.  
“Mikey, get in the car.” Helena countered calmly.  
“You kids need to learn to respect adults.” Donald spat at her. “You have no right to take my son anywhere.”  
“I am an adult, and I am taking action and removing my cousin from a toxic situation so he can be safe.” Helena said firmly.  
“You turn eighteen, and you think you’re something special? Well, you’re not, you’re a spoiled child who thinks she knows what life is like with absolutely no experience.” Donald said. “My sister and her good for nothing husband always did coddle you brats.”  
“Don’t bring my family into this when you don’t even know how to handle your own.” Helena growled.  
“Helena, go, he’s only going to fight with you.” Gerard piped up.  
“I said get in the house, Gerard.”  
“Don’t yell at him!” Mikey exclaimed, still standing just outside Helena’s car.  
“This is your last chance, Michael.” Donald said, voice low and menacing. “You and your brother get back in the damn house right now.”  
“Mikey, please get in the car.” Helena begged.  
Donald snatched Helena’s wrist, yanking her towards him and getting in her face.  
“Shut the fuck up, girl!”  
Helena gasped, her eyes going wide and fearful as his hand bore bruises into her wrist. Seeming to realize what he was doing, Donald released her, and in the second it took him to process how violent he’d gotten, she sprinted off to her car.  
“Gerard, be safe!” She called behind her.  
By the time Donald regained his thoughts, she and Mikey were gone.  
Gerard locked his bedroom door that night.


	16. All Complicated Decisions Lead To Heartbreak

“Just the two of us today?” Gerard asked, as Patrick ducked into the Way’s garage for band practice.  
It would be kind of weird with just vocals and drums, but Gerard didn’t want to send Patrick home after coming all that way, especially since Patrick was doing the guys a real favor by playing with them in the first place. He already had Fall Out Boy to work on; the addition of another band and schoolwork must be really stressful, but Patrick always did seem to have everything together.  
“Mikey’s a little behind. I think he wanted to make sure your dad wasn’t around.” Patrick said, the gentle tone of his voice making it clear that Patrick knew what was going on with the Way family. Pete must have filled him in, considering Mikey kept avoiding conversation on the topic. “Ray is sick. Caught something from one of his cousins on Christmas.”  
“Hey.” Mikey said, entering the garage and making a beeline to his bass. “Thank god, I’ve missed this thing. I was gonna make you bring it to me if we didn’t have practice this week.”  
“If you need anything from home, let me know.” Gerard told him, and Mikey nodded quickly, clearly wanting to change the subject.  
“It’s gonna be a weird practice without Ray.” Mikey said. “Guitar’s a big deal, and we don’t have a fill in for this kind of stuff.”  
“Actually,” Gerard said, suddenly struck with an idea. “Frank plays. He’s really good, he’ll pick it up quick enough to get through practice if you guys are okay with me inviting him over.”  
“That’s a fantastic idea.” Mikey said much too quickly, earning a little ‘watch it’ glare from Gerard.  
Patrick, who hadn’t actually met Frank yet, just gave a little shrug. He didn’t seem to notice how oddly eager Mikey was for Gerard to have Frank over.   
“You know, Ray keeps telling us we need to find a rhythm guitarist.” Mikey mentioned. “I always thought we’d get a permanent drummer first, but I think we should see how it goes, then if he’s interested we’ll talk to Ray about it.”  
“Okay.” Gerard said, surprised at his brother’s suggestion, but loving it. “I’ll be right back.”  
He dialed Frank’s number, stepping out of the garage so Mikey and Patrick could make as much noise as they wanted without worrying about interfering with his phone call.  
“Hello?”  
“Hey, Frank, you home?”  
“Yeah, what’s up?” Frank asked.  
“Can you come over? And bring your guitar.” Gerard said, smiling. “Oh, and go to the garage this time, not the window.”  
“Okay.” Frank laughed. “I’ll be right over.”  
A moment later, Frank came out of his front door, guitar slung around his back.  
“Hi.” He said, bounding over to Gerard. “What do you have planned for today, Gerard Way?”  
“You’ll see.” Gerard grinned, holding open the door on the side of the garage.  
“Nice setup.” Frank said, looking around the garage.  
Mikey was sitting on an amp, lazily playing his bass, and Patrick was waiting patiently with his foot bouncing in time to Mikey’s playing.  
“Hi.” Patrick said, waving from behind the drum set. “I’m Patrick.”  
“Frank.” Frank introduced himself, giving Patrick a half-smile. “What are we doing?”  
“We’re just gonna try something out.” Gerard said. “But once Ray stops being sick and he can give his input you’re probably gonna end up being a part of the band.”  
“Wait, what?” Frank asked, eyebrows raised. “Fuck, Gee, you didn’t tell me that, I should’ve been practicing more, I don’t think–”  
“You’ll be fine, you’re fucking awesome.” Gerard said.  
Hesitantly, Frank nodded, and Gerard gave him a quick run down of what they were looking for. It didn’t take too long before Frank forgot he was nervous, and he was thoroughly enjoying himself riding adrenaline. He was rolling around on the floor, leaping off of amps, and purposefully crashing into Gerard, all while keeping up with his part. Mikey and Patrick, the clam half of the group, shared a look just as Frank jumped into Gerard again. But Gerard stopped him in his tracks, grabbing him by the shoulders, and Mikey and Patrick were sure he was going to tell him to fuck off, when instead he just pulled him in and kissed him.  
Mikey and Patrick weren’t really sure what to do, so they just stopped playing, though the silence didn’t seem to affect Gerard and Frank in any way. They didn’t take notice to the fact that they weren’t alone, even when Patrick said “holy smokes” in surprise.  
It was insane, the way they moved together, so fast and so slow all at once. Frank had his hands on Gerard’s face, pushing him backwards until they ran into one of the amps, which screeched when Gerard dropped the microphone in order to better get his hands all over Frank.  
No, they didn’t notice anything except for each other. But Mikey did.  
“Gee,” He said quietly. “Dad’s home.”  
~  
Donald made Patrick and Frank go home, and Mikey went back to their grandparents’ house after Gerard told him to. It would only make the situation worse if Mikey stayed around to try to help him. It was better for Gerard to just handle the situation with his father on his own. No need to get Mikey into any more trouble than he was already in.  
Gerard sat at the kitchen table, his hoodie pulled up to hide the anger and embarrassment his face was showing. His father was going off about the situation; mostly all the same bullshit he’d already yelled at Mikey for.  
“I swear you boys are doing everything you can to give me grey hairs!” Donald exclaimed, plopping down exasperatedly in the seat across from Gerard. “What were you thinking?”  
“It was just stage adrenaline. It never happened before, and it won’t ever happen again.” Gerard lied. “I just had a crazy thought and acted on it in the moment, okay?  
“In front of Patrick Stump too, what did that nice boy ever do to you?”  
Gerard furrowed his eyebrows, making a face at the floor. What was he even talking about? Why did he care what Patrick thought? Besides, Patrick was probably the most accepting person Gerard knew. Patrick was to Pete what Gerard was to Mikey, but more intuitive. Gerard thought Patrick probably knew about Pete and Mikey before Pete and Mikey ever came to the realization that they were in love.  
If any of Gerard’s friends were to be worried about, it would probably be Brendon. Not for the acceptance thing, he would be totally cool with it, but he was completely and utterly clueless. Gerard and Frank could’ve done that in front of him, and he would’ve been much more concerned about something trivial. Like the moon or something.  
“I’ll tell him it was nothing.” Gerard muttered. “And I’ll apologize to Frank.”  
“I don’t like you being around him, Gerard. He’s bringing out bad things in you.” Donald said.  
“Right.” Gerard said quietly, not sure what else he could say.  
“You know I’m only upset because I care about you, and your future, and your reputation. I don’t want you to have a terrible life.”  
Funny, considering the only reason life sucked right now was because of him. Gerard nodded anyway.  
“If you’re serious about this,” Donald said, “you’ll stay away from that boy.”  
~  
“Hello?”  
The second Gerard was able to leave his father behind, he left the house and made a phone call. He wanted to call Frank, and tell him how much he loved him, and spend the entire night together sitting on the roof and watching the stars. He wanted to call Mikey and ask him to come home, so they could just joke and play video games, and read comics and not care about anything. He wanted to call Ray, and ask him for advice, or Pete and thank him for making his little brother so happy. But he didn’t do that. He didn’t call any of them. Instead, he called someone who he knew was going to give him the best advice without any knowledge of the situation at all. He didn’t want any biases being brought into this, and he knew he couldn’t make this decision on his own. He had a plan, but to force himself to follow through with it was something he was going to need help with.  
“Hey, Helena, sorry, do you have time to talk?” Gerard asked into the phone. “Would that be okay?”  
“Oh, yes, of course.” Her voice was a little rushed, and he could tell she was worried, and hadn’t been expecting this. He heard the faint sound of a textbook being closed, and knew she was lying about not being busy. “Where are you?”  
He knew why she asked that, too. Maybe he shouldn’t have started the conversation the way he had, because it was clear that his history was coming back to her mind, and she wanted to make sure he wasn’t on the bathroom floor with a bottle of pills.  
“I’m taking a walk.” He replied, which he was, winding his way through the neighborhood.  
“You’re safe.” She confirmed aloud, making a breathy little noise of regret when she realized she shouldn’t have said that.  
“I’m safe.” He said, to make her feel a bit better.  
“Okay.” She said gently. “What do you need to talk about?”  
“Are you sure you have time? I shouldn’t have called, you’re in college, and you have so much work...”  
“Gee, don’t do this. Talk to me, okay? I swear it’s fine, tomorrow’s only the first day back, so I don’t have that much work tonight anyway. Please never be afraid to call me.”  
“Okay.” Gerard sighed. “So, theoretically,”  
“Mmhm,” She said, very clearly realizing that this was not going to be theoretical.  
“If you were in love with someone but you absolutely could not be with them under any circumstances, what would you do?”  
“Um,” Helena said slowly, thinking about his words, and trying to piece them together to figure out what was really bothering him. “I guess if it was really that impossible, then I would try to move on. But I don’t really think that’s the case here... Really, what’s going on?”  
“Just stuff.” Gerard said, realizing how stupidly vague that was. Of course she wasn’t going to accept that as an answer.  
“Gee,” She sighed. “What have you gotten yourself into?”  
“Something kinda shitty.” Gerard replied. “I’m going to try to take care of it.”  
“Is that what you want?” She asked carefully.  
“Yes.” He said unconvincingly.  
“It’s not, is it?” She asked. “Whatever it is that’s in your way, it could go away. You might just need to give it time.”  
“It won’t go away. It’s been kind of a permanent fixture in my life since I was born.” He said. “Or conceived.”  
“Ew.” She commented on the last part, and he could almost see they way her face must’ve scrunched up at that thought. It almost made him smile. Almost. “Listen, it’s gonna get better. It always gets better, no matter what. Maybe it has to get worse first, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be okay in the end. It will be.”  
“But it might have to get worse first.” Gerard repeated.  
“Well... Yes.” Helena said. “It might. But you have to fight through it to make it out the other side.”  
“What if I’m the one who has to decide to make it worse?” Gerard asked.  
“Oh.” Helena said. “Well, do you think if you do that, it’ll work out in the end?”  
“I don’t know.”  
The more Gerard thought about it, the more he couldn’t convince himself what option was better. If he did this, he would be miserable. Frank would be miserable. But at this point he was starting to fear his father more and more, and miserable was better than hurt or dead. He wasn’t sure what his father was capable of, and he didn’t know if his decisions could bring Donald to hurt him, or Frank, or Mikey. That was a bigger concern than his own heart. But Frank’s heart was on the line, too.  
“Helena, how is your wrist?” He suddenly asked.  
She was silent for quite some time.  
“Gee...” She said thickly.  
“How much did he hurt you?”  
“It’s bruised.” She finally said. “There were some nail... marks around the front, those are healed now–”  
“He broke skin?”  
“They’re healed now.” She repeated quickly.  
“But you were bleeding.” Gerard confirmed, and her silence answered his question. “Okay, I know what I need to do.”  
“Gerard, are you sure about this?” She asked. “Please don’t do anything stupid.”  
“I promise I’m safe, Helena.” He said, knowing that was her biggest concern. “I promise I’m going to make sure everyone is safe.”  
“Okay.” She said, and he could tell she was nervous, but she didn’t have to be.  
Gerard knew what he needed to do. Yes, he was going to have to sacrifice who he was to protect the ones he loved, but he knew now that it was the only way to do it. He knew that he had to do it.  
“I love you, Helena.” He said. “Thank you so much.”  
“I love you too, Gee. Call me again if you ever need me.”  
~  
Going back to school brought changes. The entire school somehow seemed to know about Mikey and Pete, though that was something they could track back to Brendon loudly exclaiming his surprise in the middle of the cafeteria when Pete tried to discretely tell him. The rest was all up to the wildfire spread of gossip that always managed to overcome a high school. It didn’t matter, though. At this point, the two were very happy to have it out in the open, not having to feel the need to hide or be afraid. They could care less what the people at school knew or thought at this point, as they had told everyone they deemed important themselves.  
“I’ve had multiple people I don’t know tell me how brave I am and offer to have me stay at their house.” Mikey told Frank and Ray as they walked down the hallway towards the music class they all took. “I don’t know if I should be thanking them or feeling creeped out.”  
“I guess they’re complimenting you.” Frank shrugged. “You don’t like the attention though, do you?”  
Mikey shook his head.  
“Not at all. You guys have anything interesting to talk about that doesn’t have to do with me, my living arrangements, or my boyfriend?”  
“I’ve got something.” Ray suggested.  
“Go for it.” Mikey said, relieved.  
“So, I found this place that sells gigantic cupcakes, like twice the size of my hands, and they’re absolutely amazing!” Ray said excitedly. “You guys have to try one, they’re insane. I’ll bring you somet...”  
He trailed off when the three rounded the corner and their sightline was met with something that not a single one of them had been expecting. What happened next was quick, and almost cruel that it’s timing had to line up just perfectly with their rounding that corner. Outside of the economics classroom, Gerard was engaged in an amorous embrace with a girl named Lindsey Ballato, who up until this moment they hadn’t even known Gerard was friends with let alone whatever this was. He pulled back a bit, and then kissed her. It wasn’t much, just a really quick peck, but it was enough.  
Frank bolted off somewhere before it could get any worse, and Gerard, who hadn’t noticed his friends, smiled and said something to Lindsey before she slipped into the classroom and he turned to go to his own.  
“What the fuck is he doing?” Mikey growled under his breath.  
He ditched Ray to go talk to Gerard and figure out what sort of insanity was going through his brother’s mind that warranted this.  
Ray was left standing in the middle of the hall, mildly confused. He realized pretty quickly that the other three knew something he didn’t, considering each of their odd behavior. The situation, he admitted, was rather unexpected, and he himself couldn’t see such a relationship ever lasting, but it was nothing to overreact about. With that in mind, he figured there was something much bigger going on. Perhaps Mikey and Frank had some sort of negative history with Lindsey Ballato that he didn’t know about.  
Ray sighed and went off to find Frank, figuring the brothers could figure out whatever pissed Mikey off about that on their own. Ray had learned that when one of the brothers got mad at the other, it was really best to just step back and let them figure it out. But Frank running off on his own was a pretty strange response. Ray thought maybe he should see if Frank wanted to talk about it.  
He walked off in the direction Frank went, checking the closest bathroom first. Sure enough, Frank was sitting up against the wall near the sink, his knees up to his chest and his head in his arms.  
“Hey.” Ray said gently to let Frank know he was there, and slid down against the opposite wall to face him.  
Frank lifted his head, and if he hadn’t already guessed before, Ray could now see that he was crying. The whites of his eyes were reddened, bringing out the green that was hidden in the hazel brown on his irises. He hastily tried to wipe away the tears on his cheeks with the rough end of his sweater sleeve, but Ray pulled out a little pack of tissues and offered them to him.  
“You carry these around?” Frank sniffed, his voice thicker than usual, as he accepted the tissues.  
“Well, I’m still getting over being sick.” Ray explained. “But it’s good to have them on hand, anyway.”  
Frank nodded and used one to wipe his eyes. Ray sat silently, waiting to see if he needed to talk or just wanted someone to be there. Frank didn’t talk for a very long time, and Ray felt a little bad for missing class, but felt like this was more important.  
“Ray, I’m in love with Gerard.” Frank said quietly.  
“Oh.” Ray said, suddenly understanding all of the unexplainable things that had been going on with his friends recently.  
“Yeah. And I thought he was in love with me too.” Frank said. “No, I know he is, which is why I don’t understand what is going on.”  
“And Mikey’s mad because he knows.” Ray concluded.  
“Yeah, he knows.” Frank sighed. “I don’t know what I did wrong.”  
“Oh, no Frank, you didn’t do anything wrong.” Ray said. “Sometimes people make stupid decisions, especially when they’re scared of something. I’m sure Gerard has his reasons for whatever that was. He wouldn’t hurt you like that if he didn’t have a really good reason to.”  
“It’s his stupid dad.” Frank said, frustrated. “He caught us, and I don’t know what he said to Gee, but that’s got to be why he’s suddenly acting like he’s somebody else.”  
“That won’t last.” Ray said. “Trust me, I’ve known Gerard since kindergarten, and Lindsey Ballato is sure as hell not right for him. If he for some reason doesn’t realize that right now, he will soon enough.”  
“It doesn’t hurt any less.” Frank muttered, rubbing his nose sadly on his arm.  
“Of course not.” Ray said comfortingly. “You have every right to be hurt and upset. I think it’ll be okay, though. In the end.”  
Frank just sighed in response, and Ray didn’t think he was really listening. That was understandable. People tended to block out good advice when they were really upset.  
“Why don’t we get you back to normal, then go to class to try to get your mind off of it.” Ray suggested, helping Frank to his feet.  
“Yeah, okay.” Frank said quietly, and his mind was definitely far away from Ray.  
Ray only hoped he was right about everything being okay in the end.


	17. Stay With Me

Mikey was sitting on his grandparents’ couch that night, frowning as he played games on his laptop. Gerard had dropped him off earlier, and Mikey was really annoyed because he had that stupid girl in the car with them, so he couldn’t even tell him off for being a jerk. Mikey had no idea what Gerard was thinking right now, and he couldn’t get it out of him earlier in the day when he tried to confront him about it alone. Mikey had no doubts that it had something to do with their father, but honestly, that was such a drastic response to it, and Mikey just didn’t understand. He figured Gerard took Lindsey home to show off to their dad at dinner or something insane like that. At this point, he was actually glad he didn’t have to be home to witness that bullshit.  
There was a knock on the door, and Mikey’s eyes flicked to the window to see Pete standing on the porch. Mikey smiled, appreciating Pete’s timing so much, because he really did need him right now, not that he would have told Pete that. He would never make Pete get involved in his family’s drama unless Pete wanted to. Mikey jumped up, placing the laptop on the coffee table, and answered the door.  
“Hey.” Pete said, sticking his hands in his coat pockets. “Weird stuff going on at home?”  
“Yeah.” Mikey sighed. “Did you talk to Patrick?”  
“A little.” Pete responded. “He just said something’s up with Gerard and Frank, and that you might need to talk about it.”  
“Yeah, maybe I do.” Mikey sighed. “More happened today. It’s pretty bad.”  
“Do you want to take a walk?” Pete asked, nodding to the road.  
“Sure.” Mikey turned his head and called into the house, “Grammy, I’m gonna go on a walk with Pete.”  
“Okay, sweetheart! Don’t stay out too late.” She responded from the kitchen.  
“I won’t.” Mikey said, pulling on his coat, then following Pete down the front steps of the house.  
They didn’t really talk for a while, just walked hand in hand around the neighborhood. Eventually, Mikey told Pete everything he didn’t already know, including the fact that there was a lot he himself didn’t even know.  
“That sounds pretty fucked up.” Pete sighed. “Really sucks, I would’ve thought...”  
He trailed off as they crossed the bridge they were walking over, and in the distance saw a group of about four people approaching. Pete frowned, and took Mikey’s shoulders, putting himself between the group and Mikey.  
“Pete, what are you doing?” Mikey asked, surprised.  
“Just trust me, okay?” Pete said, but he sounded scared as he carefully pulled Mikey behind him towards the group.  
“Hello, Wentz.” The frontman spoke, stepping into a streetlight. “Long time no see.”  
That was when Mikey understood why Pete was acting so weird. It was the UKMG gang, who had been out to get him for months. He had been doing such a good job of avoiding them, but of course they would show up the moment he let his guard down for Mikey.  
“That was the point.” Pete said casually. “Okay, let’s just get this over with, what do you want?”  
“You know exactly what we want.” Jon snapped. “That damn money is over two months too late. Where the fuck is it?”  
“Come on, I was drunk, and lost a stupid fucking bet that isn’t even logical in the first place.” Pete said. “You seriously think I’m going to give you a thousand dollars just because I couldn’t guess what bottle was alcohol and which was my piss?”  
“That’s why they hate you?” Mikey asked, dumbfounded by that explanation.  
“It was an interesting time in my life.” Pete sighed. “What did you think, I was selling drugs or some shit?”  
“Well, that would make a whole hell of a lot more sense.” Mikey admitted.  
“Aw, this your boyfriend, Wentz?” Jon taunted.  
“Yeah,” Pete said. “Literally everyone knows that.”  
“Hold on, that’s the little Way brother.” Scarlet warned, stopping Jon and the others’ laughter.  
“You think he’s like the older one?” Jon asked, paling.  
“Christo.” Scarlet muttered, and Mikey didn’t react, because he didn’t know about their strange little interaction with Gerard. “No, he’s not possessed.”  
“My brother knows where we are.” Mikey tried, but without knowing what they were talking about, the delivery wasn’t very convincing.  
“He’s lying.” Scarlet said. “You can tell he’s scared. We don’t have anything to worry about with these two.”  
“Good.” Jon said, and with his confidence reforming, led his group closer to Mikey and Pete.  
At this point, he was right in Pete’s face, which caused Pete to push Mikey a little further back, yet he still kept his hand protectively on Mikey’s arm behind him.  
“Listen,” Jon said slowly and quietly. “You’ve got two options. Money, or...”  
He looked to either side of him, and Josh and Kai flicked out switchblades.  
“You have got to be kidding me.” Pete said, and Mikey tried to step forward but Pete wouldn’t let him.  
“We aren’t kidding, Wentz.” Jon said. “We take our bets very seriously, and you are no exception just because you made a stupid one. If you make a bet with UKMG, you better have the recourses to follow through with it if you lose.”  
“You know I can’t do that.” Pete said firmly.  
“Then that’s a real pity.” Jon said, clearly not finding it to be a pity at all.  
Before anyone in either party could react, Kai swung forward with the knife, and Pete gasped as it hit him, staggering back into Mikey.  
“Holy shit, Kai! You stabbed him!” Jon screamed.  
“Yeah, I thought–”  
“We don’t actually stab people, we just scare the fuck out of them!” Jon yelled.  
Mikey fell to the sidewalk with Pete still in his arms, his hand over his chest where Kai struck him. When Mikey pulled his hand off, it was covered in hot, sticky liquid, which was dark and spreading over Pete’s shirt in a large stain. Mikey stared at the crimson on his hand from under the lamppost in shock, losing a few breaths as he processed what was happening.  
“Holy fuck, we need to get out of here, right now.” Scarlet told them. “Oh my god, we’re gonna get arrested!”  
“No, we’re not.” Jon said, shoving the others away from Mikey and Pete. “Drop the knife, go. Go!”  
The group bolted, Kai leaving the bloody knife to clatter onto the sidewalk.  
“Hey!” Mikey yelled, but there was no way he could go after them, having to stay with Pete. “Stay with me, Pete, okay?”  
Mikey’s hands were shaking as he pulled out his phone and dialed the emergency number, stuttering through tears as he tried to tell the operator what happened and where he was.  
“Mikey...?” Pete said weakly, trying to force his eyes to stay open. “I’m a little dizzy. What’s that about?”  
Mikey choked back a sob and laced his free hand through Pete’s fingers.  
“It’s a damn cold night, isn’t it?” Pete said, almost conversationally.  
He opened his eyes, and sighed, frowning a little.  
“Hey,” He said, seeming to realize he was on the ground and trying to sit up.  
“No, no.” Mikey said quickly, pushing him back down into his lap. “Look at me.”  
“You’re crying...” Pete breathed, eyelids fluttering shut.  
“Shh.” Mikey said. “Everything is going to be alright, talk to me.”  
Pete just breathed kind of heavily, and it sounded very unnatural and rattly to Mikey.  
“He’s not responding anymore, and his breathing really doesn’t sound right.” Mikey told the operator. “I don’t think he knows what happened.”  
“Okay, sweetheart, deep breath.” The lady on the phone said. “I need you to make sure his airway is unobstructed and I need you to check his pulse. How does his breathing sound?”  
“It’s all a little fast, the breathing and the pulse.” Mikey explained. “And it sounds rattly and raspy like something’s really messed up.”  
“Do you know where the wound is?” The operator asked.  
“No, not, not exactly.” Mikey replied, stuttering a little. “There’s a lot of blood on his clothes.”  
“Okay, can you remove his clothing and try to find it?”  
“He said he’s cold, don’t I have to keep all that on to keep him warm?” Mikey asked.  
“That’s normal, and finding that wound and applying pressure to stop the bleeding is much more important right now.” The lady told him.  
Mikey cautiously lifted Pete’s shirt, being careful in the hopes of not making the situation worse. He had no idea what he was doing, and honestly, he was freaking out enough that he could very well make a stupid mistake. Mikey gasped at the sight of the wound underneath all that slick blood. He felt nauseous, but forced the feeling away, focusing on what he needed to do rather than how bad it was. He quickly shrugged off his jacket, and then pulled off his own shirt, balling it up and using it to stem the much too fast flow of blood.  
“I’ve got my shirt on it.” Mikey updated the woman. “It’s really bad, I think it got one of his lungs or something.”  
“Okay, help is on it’s way, Mikey, hang in there.” The operator reassured him. “Do you have something like a credit card or a drivers license on hand?”  
“Ah, I’ve got a school ID.” Mikey said, not understanding.  
This must be really bad, he thought, if they wanted identification or money from him. This lady had gone from helping him try to save Pete to going straight for the credit card and ID. She must really think it’s over for Pete now; he must be doomed.  
“Good, I need you to press that up against the wound. Try to seal it with the card.” The lady said. “That should prevent his lung from collapsing.”  
Oh, yeah, that was a lot more helpful than Mikey originally thought. He did as he was told, replacing his now blood soaked shirt with his school ID, covering the wound and holding it in place. Pete’s breathing sounded a little bit less strangled once he did that, but it still sounded pretty bad.  
He heard sirens nearing in the distance, and breathed in relief at the sight of the paramedics finally arriving. They rushed from the ambulance, hardly even waiting for it to park upon seeing him and Pete on the sidewalk. Two paramedics pulled out a stretcher, quickly getting Pete off of Mikey’s lap and into that ambulance. A lady paramedic knelt in front of Mikey, asking him too many questions and shining a flashlight into his eyes.  
“They didn’t touch me, you’ve got to focus on Pete. I’m fine.” Mikey tried to tell her.  
“He’s already on his way to the hospital.” The paramedic reassured him, and that’s when Mikey realized that there had been two ambulances, and the one they loaded Pete onto was already gone. “I know you think you’re not hurt, but we need to check you out anyway, alright?”  
Mikey nodded.  
“What is your name?” She asked.  
“Mikey Way.”  
“Okay, Mikey, do you know what day it is?”  
“Um, January 5, 2018.” Mikey answered.  
“And how old are you?”  
“Fifteen.”  
“Okay.” She said. “Do you have any pain anywhere?”  
“No.” Mikey said, shaking his head.  
“Good. Now you’re underage, so I can’t let you go until we’ve taken you to the hospital, okay?” She said. “We’re gonna get you on a stretcher, is that alright?”  
Mikey nodded, letting her help him stand and slide onto the stretcher. The remaining paramedics strapped him in, making him feel a little uncomfortable being so tightly bound everywhere. They raised the stretcher and got him into the ambulance, and Mikey realized this was the first time he’d ever really been in one.  
“Are you able to tell me what happened?” The lady paramedic asked, sitting next to him in the back as the others closed the doors.  
“These kids from school, they were messing with us, I think they were just trying to scare us or something, but the one got carried away, and I don’t know what happened but he somehow stuck a knife in my boyfriend.”  
“Okay, we’re going to get police involved in this.” The paramedic reassured him. “I’m going to take your blood pressure.”  
“Okay.” Mikey said, as she wrapped the velcro around his arm, and he felt it increasingly tighten around his bicep.  
“It’s a little high, but that’s to be expected in such a stressful situation.”  
“Do you think he’ll be alright?”  
The paramedic hesitated, licking her lips.  
“You did everything right, and that’s going to greatly increase his chances.” She said carefully. “He’s in the hands of people who know what they are doing now.”  
Mikey nodded slowly, silent as his mind took him somewhere much darker.  
~  
There was a lot of noise around him. People were bustling around, worry laced into their voices. Pete tried to open his eyes, but he could only open them just a little, the brightness of the surrounding lights burning through the slits in his eyelids. Everything was unfamiliar and strange. Maybe if he could remember how he got here, he could figure out what was going on. But all he really remembered was going to Mikey’s grandparents’ house and asking if he wanted to go on a walk. He sort of remembered the walk, but there were points that no matter what he did, he was just blanking on them, as if his mind was forcing him not to remember.  
In an attempt to figure something out, Pete latched onto the one familiar thing he could find in that place, which was the distant sound of Mikey’s voice. Though, it didn’t sound as calm and familiar as it usually did. It was loud and angry, and Pete wanted to find out what was upsetting him and make it stop. Mikey never raised his voice; something must be very wrong.  
“Big deal if I’m not eighteen, here I am refusing treatment!” He could hear Mikey say. “Listen, I feel like I’ve told you people a million times that I’m fine, they didn’t hurt me! I just want to know where Pete is. I need to know if he’s okay.”  
There was a quieter, more muffled response from a woman who seemed to be trying to calm him down. Pete didn’t like that Mikey was upset, he wanted to get up and let him know he was okay. But he was starting to wonder if he really was okay, because he was thinking maybe his breathing wasn’t quite right. There had to be something wrong, because each breath was coming out with a gurgle, and he felt like there was the taste of slick metal on his tongue. Was he bleeding or something? How did that happen?  
“If your concern is about ‘upsetting the patient’, I can tell you right now that withholding information is not going to make me less upset!” Mikey yelled from wherever he was. “Where’s that nice paramedic lady? She’ll tell me what’s going on.”  
“The paramedics left.” The calmer voice replied. “I’m sorry, but I can’t disclose any information to you. I need you to let me wash all of this blood off so I can check you for any injuries.”  
Mikey. Blood. That was all Pete registered from that, and he immediately knew he needed to get to Mikey. He lifted his head, trying to sit up, but a hand pushed him back down.  
“You have to stay still.” The man said gently, then called out to his colleges, “He’s awake.”  
The split second that he had lifted his head and looked down was long enough for him to notice the deep cut oozing blood from his chest. He suddenly felt sick to his stomach, and whatever part of him was blocking all of the pain and memories switched off, sending a wave of nausea and sharp pain over him. He tried to fight down the urge to puke by letting out a little cough, which was a big mistake, considering the intense feeling it brought to his chest caused him to yell out in pain.  
“I need an anesthesiologist, we need to take this patient into surgery immediately.”  
Oh fuck, Pete thought, this is really bad. He’s being shipped off to emergency surgery, and Mikey’s somewhere covered in blood, angry and worried about him. He suddenly wondered what the procedure was for contacting families about this kind of thing. Pete’s parents were in DC again, and Mikey’s more or less kicked him out of the house. Something really bad was happening, and none of them knew about it. He couldn’t remember what the last thing he said to his parents was. “I love you and I’ll see you soon,” he thought. He hoped. But what was the last thing he said to Mikey? That was harder, he could barely remember what happened let alone anything he said. He couldn’t die and have said something completely idiotic as his last words to Mikey. Oh god, he never even really told Mikey he loved him. It was always there, and they both knew it, but he didn’t actually get the chance to really, truly say it. Suddenly, that was the most important thing in the entire world to Pete. As the anesthesia dimmed the lights, that was the thing he latched onto, holding on for dear life to the image in his mind and the words on his lips.  
~  
“I need to see Pete Wentz.” Mikey said quickly, smacking his hands down on the front desk counter the moment they let him go.  
“What relation are you to the patient?” The secretary asked blandly, clearly not seeing the urgency of the situation.  
Mikey was a complete and utter mess. His shirt was still covered in Pete’s blood, and his hair was sticking in every direction from being mixed with tears, sweat and blood. Even his glasses were splotchy from all the tears that had gotten on the lenses. Honestly, it was surprising this lady was so nonchalant about the appearance and demands of the kid.  
“I’m his boyfriend. I’ve got to go back there and see him.”  
“I’m sorry, you aren’t a parent, guardian or sibling, I cannot allow you visitation of the patient.” She didn’t look sorry at all, more like disgusted, especially at the word “boyfriend”.  
Mikey narrowed his eyes, immediately recognizing this. Absolutely not, he was not dealing with that today. That’s why he left his stupid house in the first place, and he wasn’t going to be judged by this jerk of a stranger who wouldn’t even let him know if Pete was okay. Nobody here was very helpful; shocking, considering it was a freaking hospital.  
“Come on, I was literally just back there, why can’t I go back and see him?” Mikey argued with the lady.  
“You have been signed out; you don’t need to stay here anymore.” She told him.  
“I know, but nobody’s telling me anything, and I don’t want to sit out here and wait to find out that they’re being carelessly reassuring if something is terribly wrong.” Mikey said, frustrated. “I don’t care if I’m under eighteen, that is no reason to keep information from me when I don’t know if it’s worst case scenario and he’s dead or in a coma or some other horrible thing, okay? Just freaking tell me, or I’m going back there myself.”  
“If you don’t stop threatening me I’m going to have to call security.”  
“I’m not threatening you, I just want to–”  
“Mikey Way?”  
Mikey sighed in relief at the sight of Joe Biden, and gave him a pleading look.  
“Do you know if Pete’s okay?” Mikey asked worriedly. “They’re not letting me know anything.”  
“I only just got here.” Biden said apologetically.  
“Maybe you’ll get better luck than I did.” Mikey said, glaring at the front desk lady. “I bet you would’ve let me back if I had boobs, wouldn’t you have? Yeah, I saw that look you gave me, I bet if I was a chick you would’ve thought it was adorable.”  
“Alright, I’m definitely calling security now, you little shit.” The lady said, reaching for the phone.  
“That’s not necessary. My name is Joe Biden, and I am acting as guardian for Peter Wentz since his parents are currently out of the state. They are working on getting a flight back here, but until then I have been asked to sit in with him and make any critical decisions that they would want to make now. I will be going back now, and I am bringing this young man with me.” Biden said, taking the clipboard from the front desk lady’s hands and scribbling information on it.  
The woman pursed her lips in annoyance, but nodded. She was unable to argue with him, mostly because he was Joe Freaking Biden, but also because he was Pete’s emergency contact.   
“Just wait until I tell Barack about this...” Biden muttered in annoyance as he guided Mikey down the hall. “You know, I still have the spare keys to the White House. If it weren’t for everyone telling me not to, I would set loose a bunch of rodents for Trump to deal with. That would show him for ruining all of the work we did to eliminate bigotry like that.”  
“Um... Thanks.” Mikey said slowly, not quite getting the rodents part.  
“Guinea pigs. Orange ones, with little yellow toupees.” Biden nodded.  
Mikey just nodded.  
“Hello, you’re here for Peter Wentz?” A doctor asked, approaching Mikey and Biden.  
“Yes, I’m his uncle, Joe Biden.” Biden said, shaking the doctor’s hand. “How is he doing?”  
“Well, the knife punctured his left lung, but it was shallow, and we were able to successfully patch him up.” The doctor said, and both Mikey and Biden breathed a unified sigh of relief. “He was very lucky, an inch over and it would have been his heart, and any more blood loss would have been disastrous.”  
“Can we see him?” Mikey asked.  
“Who are you?” The doctor asked.  
Mikey opened his mouth to speak, but Biden spoke for him.  
“Someone important.” He said, putting an arm around Mikey. “Pete will really want to see him.”  
“Well, he’s asleep now, but you can wait in the room until he wakes up, if you’d like.” The doctor said, leading them to the room.  
Pete was behind a curtain separating the room from a little boy with ‘Get Well Soon’ balloons who waved to Mikey and Biden as they passed. He was asleep, hooked up to monitors, cleaned up and dressed in a white hospital gown. On shaky legs, Mikey lowered himself down into the chair next to the bed, taking Pete’s hand.  
“Hi Mikey.” Pete whispered before even opening his eyes, squeezing Mikey’s hand.  
Mikey couldn’t help but cry a little at that. After all they had just went through in the past two hours, he couldn’t believe Pete was alive and talking to him.  
“Hi Uncle Joe.” Pete added, eyes now open and looking at Biden.  
“Hello, son.” Biden smiled. “I’m glad you’re alright.”  
“Same.” Pete said, and Mikey laughed at how completely Pete that response was, bringing Pete’s hand to his lips.  
“I’m going to talk to that nice young man and his mom next door, and give the two of you a little space.” Biden said, closing the curtain behind him.  
“I need to tell you something.” Pete said softly, looking at Mikey with such calm eyes.  
“You can tell me anything right now.” Mikey said. “God, Pete, I am so happy you’re okay.”  
“Right, I’m sorry I scared you.” Pete apologized.  
“Don’t be, that wasn’t your fault.” Mikey said. “Seriously, you’re alive and you’re alright, so everything is okay.”  
“Mikey, I almost died–”  
“No, no, no, please don’t talk like that.” Mikey said, shaking his head. “You didn’t die, you’re here, and you’re fine.”  
“I almost died, and there was only one thing I had on my mind.” Pete finished.  
“What was that?” Mikey asked, though he thought he already knew.  
“I didn’t ever formally tell you how much I love you. I need you to know that, okay? I really, really fucking love you, Mikey Way.” Pete said. “You’re the best damn thing that’s ever happened to me, and I swear if I had died without telling you that... I don’t even know... But, Mikey, you’ve got to know you’re what kept me alive. I don’t think I would’ve had enough to fight for if it weren’t for you.”  
“Dear God, Pete, I love you.” Mikey said, getting to his feet so he could lean against the bed and kiss him.  
“Don’t let that heart monitor pick up too much.” Biden called from the other side of the curtain, and the little boy giggled. “Trust me, buddy, it happens. It’s a love thing.”  
Mikey and Pete laughed, pulling apart for a second, then deciding that just a little more wouldn’t do any harm.  
“You hear that?” Biden asked the little boy. “The beeping got faster.”  
Pete shook his head with a smile, and pulled Mikey onto the bed with him.  
“Shit, Pete, careful.” Mikey said, trying not to touch him anywhere on his chest as he fell onto the bed.  
“You’re fine, it’s this side.” Pete reassured him, pointing to the opposite side than where Mikey was. “Just lay with me, okay? I want to try to sleep off some of the pain.”  
Mikey nodded, burying his face in Pete’s neck, and letting him wrap his right arm around his body.  
And then they just slept.


End file.
